Professor Emily Webb
MMath MSc PhD
Professor
of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology
My background is in Mathematics and Medical Statistics. I joined the LSHTM in October 2008 after previously working in statistical genetics at the Institute of Cancer Research.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I co-organise (with Rein Houben and Lois Kim) the distance-learning module EPM202 (Statistical Methods in Epidemiology). I also teach on the in-house courses Statistics for Epidemiology and Population Health (STEPH) and Statistical Methods in Epidemiology (SME). I am a tutor for both the Epidemiology and Medical Statistics MSc courses.
Research
I am Deputy Director of the MRC International Statistics and Epidemiology Group (ISEG), and am co-theme leader (with Tansy Edwards) for ISEG's work on emerging and neglected diseases. My current research focuses on the design and analysis of intervention and observational studies in the fields of helminths, tuberculosis and child health, with a particular interest in cluster randomised trials.
I work with the Immunomodulation and Vaccines (I-VAC) Programme at the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit. I am the trial statistician on the Entebbe Mother and Baby Study (EMaBS). This birth cohort, located in Entebbe, Uganda, investigates the impact of helminth infections and their treatment during pregnancy on birth outcomes, illness and allergy events during infancy, and on immunological responses to childhood vaccinations. I also co-lead the Co-Host study which is investigating the imapct of early-life and current exposures on responses to SARS-CoV-2 among EMaBS participants. I am a co-investigator on the POPVAC programme, which aims to understand population differences in vaccine response and to determine how vaccine effectiveness can be optimised for tropical low-income countries (LICs), based on trials in urban and rural populations in Uganda. I additionally provide statistical supervision and capacity building to other members of the I-VAC team.
I was trial statistician on the HomeACF Study, a household cluster randomised trial of active case finding for HIV and TB, preventive treatment against TB, and ART initiation to prevent TB disease and transmission, in South Africa. I am also the trial statistician for the ABAaNA early intervention trial, which investigates the feasibility and effectiveness of early intervention for young infants at high risk of neurodevelopmental delay and disability in Uganda.
I lead the EDCTP-funded ENTRANT fellowship scheme which is providing epidemiology and outbreak preparedness training to 15 public health practitioners from Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. I currently have doctoral students working on statistical modelling of vaccine responses among Uganda adolescents, impact of fatty meal co-administration and double-dosing on albendazole effectivenesss, and the use of advanced statistical methods to assess survival and disease progression among participants with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in low and middle income countries.