Personal Profile

I am a Senior Research Fellow at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, UK. I currently hold a post-doctoral fellowship from the MRC, which aims to improve causal inference in the life course aetiology of dementia and cognitive decline. My research focuses on applying causal inference methods such as Mendelian Randomization and offspring instrumental variable analyses to identify novel causal risk factors for dementia and cognitive decline. I also have an interest developing methods to address selection bias in Mendelian randomization studies. In addition to my fellowship, I am co-applicant on a grant from an Alzheimer’s Research charity (BRACE), which uses genetic data to identify early-life determinants and causal environmental risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. 

I completed my PhD in Epidemiology in 2014 at the University of Bristol, on the prevlence and determinants of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children and adolescents. My postdoctoral positions include analysis of the Active for Life Year 5 Trial (a cluster randomised controlled trial of a primary school-based intervention to increase levels of physical activity, decrease sedentary behaviour and improve diet) and examining effects of childhood trauma on later-life cardiovascular and ageing outcomes. My undergraduate degree was in Human Biology (graduated 2010, 1st Class Honours, Loughborough University).

Research experience

• Modelling longitudinal data (using mixed models and joint models to account for informative loss-to-follow-up) to obtain trajectories of exposures and outcomes across the life course
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
• Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials
• Analysis of clustered data
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses
• Mendelian randomisation (univariable and multivariable)
• Polygenic risk score analysis
• Offspring instrumental variable analysis

Teaching

I am co-director of the Mendelian Randomization & Causal Inference short courses in the Bristol Medical School. I have also taught (or currently teach) on Introduction to Statistics, Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses, Advanced Epidemiology, Analysis of Repeated Measures, and Introduction to Statistical Methods in Life Course Epidemiology. I am a tutor for the Evidence Based Medicine program delivered to first year MBChB students, and also teach 'Analysis of Clustered Data' on the Epidemiology MSc.