I am a Professor of Epidemiology at St. George’s, University of London, with 20 years of experience working in cardiovascular disease and diabetes epidemiology and public health.
I am a Professor of Epidemiology at St. George’s, University of London, with 20 years of experience working in cardiovascular disease and diabetes epidemiology and public health. I hold a PhD in Epidemiology (HIV mathematical and statistical modeling - Oxford University) and Masters in Public Health (University of London), and have a broad background in NCD epidemiology including specifically 1) the development of modeling approaches to explain disease trends in different populations.2) systematic review methodologies and 3) original field work (observational studies).
After joining Liverpool University, with Simon Capewell (PI) I developed a CHD mortality model (IMPACT), which has since been widely replicated and refined. I was first author on a number of key publications using the model to assess policy options and life years gained in the UK, and led initial work to translate to a middle income setting (Beijing) where CHD mortality was rising (published in Circulation, 2004). After laying this groundwork, I successfully managed projects carrying out secondary analyses of a large, serial cross-sectional survey assessing trends in smoking prevalence, and the economic impact of smoking on households in China from 1993-2003. I also developed expertise in systematic review methodology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where was I employed as Lecturer in Research Synthesis (2003-06) This included some highly cited large systematic reviews of observational data (risk factors) such as a) mortality risk reduction on quitting smoking (JAMA, 2003) and b) the health effects of smokeless tobacco; for which I reviewed and pooled data from 95 epidemiological studies (Thorax, 2003).
From 2006 I moved to Newcastle as a Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology, and during this time I won prestigious EC funding (€2.7 million, 7 international partners) to evaluate the national policy situation and cost-effectiveness of different policy options for CHD and diabetes prevention in four middle income, North African and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey). This project combines both qualitative methodologies and epidemiological modelling (including cost-effectiveness) to develop a comprehensive and transparent prevention framework for regional and national policy makers. I continue to work in this region, and have recently been awarded funding to develop a more comprehensive screening and prevention strategy for diabetes in Qatar (2018 onwards).
More recently (2010 onwards), I have been developing a research programme focused on the association between common chronic and infectious diseases such as diabetes and tuberculosis (TB). This includes a new EC FP7 funded consortium; TANDEM (Concurrent Tuberculosis and Diabetes Mellitus) investigating the best ways to diagnose diabetes in TB patients and TB in diabetes patients and the costs of implementing these screenings and resulting treatment; and a new collaboration to develop TB-DM mathematical models to estimate the population level impact of increasing diabetes prevalence on TB control and the effect of interventions (funded by the Qatari National Research Fund). For the EC TANDEM consortium I was a co-investigator and the Work Package leader for several large observational studies (taking place in 4 countries – Peru, Indonesia, South Africa and Romania), investigating the best modes of screening patients with newly diagnosed tuberculosis for diabetes and their outcomes, as well as screening diabetes patients for tuberculosis. I also took responsibility for data management for the 4 country consortium. My expertise in this area has been recognised by my invitation to join an expert group writing guidelines for TB-DM management (published by the IUALTD/WDF) and many invitations to speak at external meetings. I am also
I have about 200 peer-reviewed publications, many as first or last author in high impact journals.