I trained in Medicine at the Queen's University of Belfast and continue to work clinically at St John's Institute of Dermatology, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, providing clinical care for patients with chronic inflammatory skin diseases. I joined the School in 2011 having completed my PhD at the University of Nottingham and gained post-doctoral experience as a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
My research has been funded by a wide range of funders, including a Wellcome Senior Clinical Fellowship in Science and an NIHR Clinician Scientist fellowship.
I am co-Director for Health Data Research UK London, having previously been Associate Director (www.hdruk.ac.uk). I co-founded and co-Chair the REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely collected Data (RECORD) initiative (www.record-statement.org). I also on the Steering committee of the Electronic Health Records group (https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/electronic-hea…) at LSHTM. I am on the Executive Committee of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland. I am former Chair of the European Dermatoepidemiology Network Steering committee (www.orgs.dermis.net/eden).
Affiliations
Research
My research addresses two major areas:
1. Understanding the epidemiology of immune mediated inflammatory conditions in order to improve outcomes
2. Improving methodology for the conduct and reporting of research using routinely collected health data including electronic health records.
1. Understanding the epidemiology of immune mediated inflammatory conditions in order to improve outcomes
Immune mediated inflammatory conditions, including skin diseases, affect many sections of the population and tend to be chronic in nature. Despite their high frequency, the burden, outcomes and optimal treatments for inflammatory disorders are poorly understood.
My research addresses an important research gap: the causes, consequences and treatment of immune mediated inflammatory conditions, with a specific focus on skin diseases and improving outcomes for these conditions. Little is known about the epidemiology of skin diseases. My work focuses in particular on using the power of routine data sources to provide answers for important research questions. This research has been used to inform NHS and international policy.
I lead a programme of work on atopic eczema in adults using a variety of data sources. This work is supported by a Wellcome Senior Clinical fellowship in Science. We have identified eczema phenotypes using longitudinal population-based data and are using a comprehensive approach to investigate if there are strong associations between eczema and major adverse health and social outcomes using large longitudinal population-based data. Recent key discoveries include the association between severe eczema and major cardiovascular outcomes. This cutting-edge body of work will make substantial contributions towards understanding eczema complexity and co-morbidity, as well as improving patient outcomes.
https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-group/skindiseases.
I led a large national project (17 million people) focused on COVID-19 outcomes in people with immune mediated inflammatory diseases using OpenSAFELY (a new secure platform to facilitate analyses of UK electronic health record data). A principal aim of this work was to assess if targeted and standard immune modifying drugs in immune mediated inflammatory diseases are associated with increased adverse outcomes.
2. Improving methodology for the conduct and reporting of research using routinely collected health data including electronic health records.
I co-founded the REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely collected Data (RECORD) initiative (www.record-statement.org ) in 2012 in order to create reporting guidelines for studies undertaken using observational routinely-collected data. These guidelines are in widespread use and have been adopted by most of the leading journals. We are now expanding our efforts upstream to improve the methodology of studies undertaken using routinely-collected health data.
Additional activities
I co-led the award-winning flagship Coronavirus School Infection Survey in partnership with Office for National Statistics and Public Health England (https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/schools-infect…). This national study (150 schools) was developed to assess coronavirus transmission in UK schools
I established a programme of research to understand indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on NHS services (Lancet Dig Health 2021)
Selected Publications
