Summary
Research
I am a NIHR Clinician Scientist, Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Neonatal Data Analysis Unit, and Honorary Consultant Neonatologist at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust. I read Medicine at the University of Nottingham and completed Neonatal Medicine subspecialty training in 2018.
In 2020, I was awarded a 5-year NIHR Advanced Fellowship to lead a programme of research neoWONDER: 'Neonatal Whole Population Data linkage to improve lifelong health and wellbeing of preterm babies'. I will link data from a 12-year cohort of babies held on the UK National Neonatal Research Database, to other population-level physical and mental health, and education data. This life-course approach at scale will help identify neonatal interventions that may improve the life-long health and wellbeing of preterm and sick newborns. By working closely with patients and parents, I will ensure that the research is meaningful and relevant to their needs.
I completed my PhD at Imperial College, which focused on the epidemiology of Necrotising Enterocolitis (NEC), a serious bowel condition that affects preterm babies. I led the first national prospective cohort study which quantified the incidence of severe NEC applying a consistent case-definition and examined feed-related antecedents. I am keen to apply my expertise in the development, interrogation and application of datasets more broadly across Child Health. I am Vice-Chair of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Informatics For Quality Committee. I am also Data and Informatics lead at the British Association of Perinatal Medicine , Deputy Chair of the NIHR HTA Prioritisation committee for Hospital Based Care, and member of the Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB) Advisory Boards.
In 2021, I was delighted to be awarded the RCPCH Simon Newell early independent researcher award, which recognised my strong commitment to training and supporting the next generation of researchers. I am founder and Consultant Lead for NeoTRIPS (Neonatal Trainee-Led Research and Improvement ProjectS), and was previously RCPCH Neonatal College Tutor at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital (2019-2021).
My other interests include improving neonatal outcomes in low middle-income countries through collection and analysis of minimal data to inform improvements in care and appropriate use of technology. Since 2011, I have volunteered as a trustee and medical advisor for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and have experience of setting up a neonatal unit, working and teaching and working in low resource settings.
I supervise PhD, MSc and BSc students undertaking research projects in the School of Public Health, and Reproductive and Developmental Medicine. I am happy to be contacted for more information or opportunities.
Current PhD students
Emily van Blankenstein: The impact of nutrition in very preterm infants on their long-term outcomes: a data linkage approach (primary supervisor)
Alice Aveline: Causal inference methodology to evaluate care and interventions for babies born preterm (primary supervisor)
Hannah Gannon: Resilience in the face of crises: Evaluating the implementation of a digital healthcare tool for newborns in Zimbabwe (co-supervisor)
Philippa Rees: Childhood outcomes after perinatal brain injury: a population-based linkage study (co-supervisor)
Sunjuri Sun: Long-term outcomes and early academic attainment following childhood surgery: a population-based study (co-supervisor)
Sarah Sturrock: Using machine learning to develop a risk stratification tool for neonatal sepsis in low-resource settings (co-supervisor)
George Bethell: Improving understanding of indications for and timing of surgery in infants with Necrotising Enterocolitis (co-supervisor)
Academic Clinical Fellow
Behrouz Nezafat Maldonado: neoSTAR: Neonatal Surgical Transfers and Access Research (primary supervisor)
Publications
Journals
Evans K, Battersby C, Boardman JP, et al. , 2023, National priority setting partnership using a Delphi consensus process to develop neonatal research questions suitable for practice-changing randomised trials in the UK., Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed
Harnden F, Lanoue J, Modi N, et al. , 2023, A data-driven approach to understanding neonatal palliative care needs in England and Wales: a population based study 2015-2020, Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition, ISSN:1359-2998
Sturrock S, Ali S, Gale C, et al. , 2023, Neonatal outcomes and indirect consequences following maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy: a systematic review, Bmj Open, Vol:13, ISSN:2044-6055, Pages:1-8
Lammons W, Moss R, Bignell C, et al. , 2023, Involving multiple stakeholders in assessing and reviewing a novel data visualization tool for a national neonatal data asset, Bmj Health & Care Informatics, Vol:30, ISSN:2632-1009, Pages:1-7