Lecturer (Medical Statistician)

Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
National Heart and Lung institute @ Imperial College
1b Manresa Road
London SW3 6LR, UK

Telephone	+44 (0)20 7351 8307
Fax	+44 (0)20 7351 8336

Current research interests:

• We initiated a birth cohort of asthma and allergy in 1993, based in Ashford, Kent. A total of 642 babies were born and over 92% were followed up to age eight. To date, analysis of this cohort includes investigation of the role of early aeroallergen exposure, patterns of wheeze over time, determinants of atopic eczema and exploring the diagnosis of asthma made by a General Practitioner.
• This cohort has grown horizontally; there are three sister cohorts running in Europe (AMICS collaboration). Also this project has recently become a member of the STELAR network of UK birth cohort studies and funding has been secured to review the study subjects at ages 12-13 years.
• We have also looked at the parents of the cohort to investigate the role of early infections and antibiotic prescriptions upon atopy and allergic disease in adulthood. A particular interest of mine has been in looking at the role of the mother upon the child’s atopic status, in order to attempt to understand the “birth order” effect where first-born children have higher rates of allergy than those born later.
• I am pursuing my PhD studies by analyses of possible causes and consequences of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
• I have also been involved in research projects assessing the effect of occupational exposures upon respiratory disease in a variety of settings, urban-rural differences in allergy levels in Crete and the impact of hayfever symptoms upon young adults’ exam scores.

Statistics:

The statistical team has developed an expertise in statistical design and analysis of occupational surveys. For all other departmental projects, we also provide statistical design, data management, statistical analysis, presentation of results and dissemination of findings.