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Dr Laura Oakley

BSc MSc PhD

Assistant Professor
in Epidemiology

Room
258d

LSHTM
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom

Tel.
+44 (0) 20 7927 2901

I am an epidemiologist focusing on maternal, reproductive and child health. My main interests are the epidemiology of infertility, ill-health during pregnancy and adverse perinatal outcomes, the effects of in-utero exposures on infant and child health, and infant feeding. 

After an undergraduate degree in Sociology (London School of Economics) I spent several years working as a researcher on adolescent health at the Centre for Research in Primary Community Care, University of Hertfordshire. A NHS Health Services Research Fellowship funded my MSc in Epidemiology (LSHTM, 2002) and my PhD (LSHTM). My PhD thesis focused on the determinants of infertility in women and involved secondary analysis of two datasets. Between 2009 and 2014 I worked as a researcher at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (University of Oxford) on a number of projects relating to infant mortality, maternity care, and breastfeeding. 

I hold an affiliated researcher position at the Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Oslo, Norway) (https://www.fhi.no/en/more/research-centres/Centre-for-fertility-and-he…). 

Affiliations

Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health
Department of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology

Centres

Centre for Maternal Adolescent Reproductive & Child Health (MARCH)

Teaching

I have taught on the MSc Epidemiology by Distance Learning (DL) since 2004. I currently co-organise the MSc Epi core module EPM101 “Fundamentals of Epidemiology”. I also teach on the London-based MSc module “Basic Epidemiology”. I am a personal tutor for MSc Reproductive and Sexual Health Research (RSHR) and supervise projects for MSc RSHR and DL MSc Epidemiology. 

Research

Since rejoining LSHTM in 2014 I have worked on a number of research projects.

Using routine clinical datasets I have investigated the epidemiology of adverse perinatal outcomes in the UK. I am collaborating on several other projects looking at ill-health pre- or during pregnancy and birth outcomes in the UK and elsewhere. 

I have a long standing interest in the epidemiology of infertility in high income countries and the longer-term impact of assisted reproductive treatment. Along with colleagues at the Centre for Fertility and Health in Norway I have been investigating the association between infection during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children. 

I am also interested in the socio-economic determinants of breastfeeding in low, middle and high income countries.  

Research Area
Child health
Health inequalities
Maternal health
Perinatal health
Social and structural determinants of health
Capacity strengthening
Fertility
Neonatal health
Discipline
Epidemiology
Nutrition
Disease and Health Conditions
Non-communicable diseases
Country
United Kingdom
India
Norway
Region
Euro area
European Union

Selected Publications

Pregnancy and risk of COVID-19: a Norwegian registry-linkage study.
Magnus MC; Oakley L; Gjessing HK; Stephansson O; Engjom HM; Macsali F; Juliusson PB; Nybo Andersen A-M; Håberg SE
2021
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Preterm birth after the introduction of COVID-19 mitigation measures in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark: a registry-based difference-in-differences study.
Oakley LL; Örtqvist AK; Kinge J; Hansen AV; Petersen TG; Söderling J; Telle KE; Magnus MC; Mortensen LH; Nybo Andersen A-M
2021
American journal of obstetrics and gynecology
Childhood seizures after prenatal exposure to maternal influenza infection: a population-based cohort study from Norway, Australia and Canada.
Oakley LL; Regan AK; Fell DB; Spruin S; Bakken IJ; Kwong JC; Pereira G; Nassar N; Aaberg KM; Wilcox AJ
2021
Archives of Disease in Childhood
Does first-trimester serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein A differ in pregnant women with sickle cell disease?
Peeva G; Oakley L; von Rège I; Nicolaides K; Oteng-Ntim E
2019
Prenatal Diagnosis
Early breastfeeding practices: Descriptive analysis of recent Demographic and Health Surveys.
Oakley L; Benova L; Macleod D; Lynch CA; Campbell OMR
2017
Maternal & child nutrition
Breastfeeding in England: time trends 2005-2006 to 2012-2013 and inequalities by area profile.
Oakley LL; Kurinczuk JJ; Renfrew MJ; Quigley MA
2014
Maternal & child nutrition
See more Publications