Ellen Brooks Pollock, Professor in Infectious Disease Modelling
Professor in Infectious Disease Modelling and Director of the Bristol Population Health Science Institute. Ellen is an Professor in infectious disease modelling, working on policy-relevant public health questions pertinent to both humans and animals. Her work involves developing methods, data analysis tools and data-driven disease models that can be used for policy and decision making, in the UK and worldwide. Ellen was Equality, Diversity and Inclusion lead for the Veterinary School from 2019 to 2022 and formed and chaired the University of Bristol COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Modelling group. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 2021 Birthday Honours list for her contribution to scientific advice during the pandemic.
Richard Martin, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology
Professor Richard Martin. Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Honorary Consultant in Public Health and NIHR Senior Investigator. As a clinical epidemiologist, Richard’s research mainly focuses on cancer epidemiology, early detection (particularly prostate cancer screening) and low-toxicity interventions for cancer prevention or treatment (e.g., diet, physical activity, metformin, statins). His research includes pharmaco-epidemiological studies of drug repurposing and adverse effects, using Mendelian randomization causal inference methods and he co-leads the long-term follow-up of the world’s largest randomised controlled trial of breastfeeding promotion. He has been awarded £33.1Million as PI and £77.4Million as co-I since 1999 and has 370 peer-reviewed publications, 54 cited >100 and 3 >1000 times (Scopus h index: 62).
Gemma Crawford, Population Health Science Institute Senior Executive Assistant
Gemma has a first class Biomedical Sciences degree from the University of the West of England and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Bristol. Before joining the University of Bristol, Gemma was a Biomedical Scientist at Frenchay Hospital in the field of Haematology and then took on a role in the tissue donation team based at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. She previously worked for the ALSPAC Children of the 90s project supporting the Executive Committee and now provides administrative support for the Population Health Science Institute.
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Deborah Lawlor, Professor of Epidemiology, MRC Investigator and BHF Chair
Professor of Epidemiology, MRC Investigator and Programme Lead in the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, and BHF Chair. Deborah has a background in clinical practice and public health and a PhD in Epidemiology. She researches causes and consequences of reproductive, pregnancy and perinatal health (such as subfertility/infertility, pregnancy complications and menstrual and menopause health). She has a particular focus on the impact of reproductive health on cardiometabolic health. Having obtained an MSc in Medical statistics (LSHTM 2003) she also contributes to developing methods to improve causal understanding. She has published more than 800 scientific papers and has a wide network of international collaborators.
Dr Fernando Sánchez-Vizcaíno
Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Public Health. Fernando has 10+ years of epidemiologic research experience involving national and international academic, government and commercial partners and has produced more than 40 scientific publications. His primary research interests are the application of health informatics to improve One Health antimicrobial stewardship and companion animal disease surveillance, as well as the application of quantitative epidemiological methods for the prevention and control of transboundary zoonotic diseases.
Gene Feder, Professor of Primary Care
Professor of Primary Care and part-time GP, Centre for Academic Primary Care, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol
Gene qualified at Guy’s Hospital medical school, following a BSc in Biology and Philosophy from the University of Sussex. He trained as a GP and was a principal in Hackney for 21 years until moving to Bristol. His research started with the health and healthcare of Traveller Gypsies, followed by studies on the development and implementation of clinical guidelines, management of chronic respiratory and cardiovascular conditions in primary care and the health impact of domestic violence. Current research focuses on healthcare responses to domestic violence globally. Gene’s methodological expertise is in randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews, collaborating with epidemiologists and social scientists on cohort and qualitative studies respectively. He has chaired four NICE guideline development groups and led the WHO intimate partner violence guidelines. In 2017 was awarded an OBE for services to healthcare and victims of domestic abuse.
George Davey-Smith, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology
Director of the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol. George is also Scientific Director of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and their Children (ALSPAC) and Scientific Director of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Bristol.
George Davey Smith is a clinical epidemiologist who has focused on methods for improving causal inference in studies of disease aetiology and disease prevention. His work has involved early implementation of ‘negative controls’ in epidemiological studies, the use of cross-context comparisons, sensitivity analyses, unobtrusive data collection methods and randomized trials in thought-to-be difficult situations. He pioneered the use of germline genetic variants for investigating modifiable causes of disease (‘Mendelian randomization’), developed several extensions of the basic method, and contributed to its application in many settings. He is an advocate of the pre-specified application of a range of methods, with different structures of potential biases, to the same question (‘triangulation’), as the key approach to strengthening causal inference.
Jeremy Horwood, Professor of Social Sciences and Applied Health Research
Professor of Social Sciences and Applied Health Research. Jeremy is Intervention Optimisation and Implementation Theme co-lead for NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Behavioural Science and Evaluation and co-lead of the Behavioural and Qualitative Science Team for NNIHR Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West). He is also co-director of the Sexual Health Improvement Programme Health Integration Team (SHIP HIT). As a social scientist with a background in psychology, he uses a range of qualitative and mixed method approaches in the development, evaluation and implementation of healthcare innovation. His research interests including users’ experience of health and health services, acceptability of clinical interventions, primary care, public health, sexual health and digital health.
Professor John Coggon, Chair in Law
Professor of Law in the University of Bristol Law School, where he is a founding member and former co-Director of the Centre for Health, Law, and Society. John’s research on public health follows approaches in legal, moral, and political philosophy. He has collaborated with colleagues nationally and internationally from across disciplines in and related to public health. He has published numerous journal articles and books, including the monograph What Makes Health Public? (Cambridge University Press, 2012).
Julian Higgins, Professor of Evidence Synthesis
Professor of Evidence Synthesis and leads the Bristol Appraisal and Review of Research group. Julian trained as a statistician and works on methods for undertaking systematic reviews, which bring together the totality of worldwide evidence on specific health research questions, such as whether a particular treatment works or whether a particular exposure causes a disease. He developed some of the core methods of meta-analysis, used to combine the results of multiple studies. Julian has produced several books and his many publications have been extensively used by researchers, with over a quarter of a million citations to his work.
Kristen Reyher, Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology
Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and Population Health; Kristen serves as Director of Research at the Bristol Veterinary School. Kristen has worked as a practicing veterinarian in livestock practice in three countries and currently leads an interdisciplinary research group (the AMR Force) focussed on antimicrobial use, resistance and stewardship in a global One Health context. Kristen directed the first studies applying a counselling style called Motivational Interviewing to veterinarian-client communication and is known internationally for her impactful, participatory research expertise..
Dr Lavinia Paternoster, Senior Lecturer in Genetic Epidemiology (MRC-IEU)
Lavinia serves as the mid-career representative on the PHSI committee, having joined the University of Bristol in 2009 in her first post-doc position and working her way to her current senior lecturer role. She has introduced several career development initiatives within the institute, such as mentoring for early career researchers, a PhD symposium and a program of training opportunities within the MRC-IEU. She researches the genetic and causal risk factors for common complex disease (such as eczema, musculoskeletal traits and disease progression) within the MRC-IEU. She has several international collaborations and leads the EAGLE eczema consortium of more than 30 cohorts worldwide investigating the genetics of eczema.
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Marcus Munafò, Professor of Biological Psychology
Professor of Biological Psychology in the School of Psychological Science and MRC Investigator in the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit. Marcus investigates the causal pathways between health behaviours and physical and mental health outcomes, with the aim of identifying modifiable targets for intervention, and using this knowledge to develop novel individual- and population-level interventions.
Matt Hickman, Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology
Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology, Head of Population Health Sciences (PHS) and Deputy Head of Bristol Medical School. Matt is an NIHR Senior Investigator, Co-Director of NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation, Honorary Public Health Consultant at Bristol City Council and Public Health England (now UK HAS) and Honorary Professor at National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre UNSW Sydney. He is a highly cited scientist (2019&2020) with research on addiction and infectious disease and in particular on prevention of Hepatitis C Virus and drug related deaths.
Nic Timpson, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology
Principal investigator for ALSPAC, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. In addition, Nic’s research focuses on the application of genetic epidemiology to the dissection of potentially causal relationships between modifiable risk factors and complex health outcomes. He is a Wellcome Trust Investigator and leads work on the aetiology of cancer (CRUK and H2020 supported), cardiovascular health (NIHR supported) and the role of the environment in cardiometabolic health (H2020 supported). Through collaboration with the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, Wellcome Longitudinal Population Studies COVID-19 Questionnaire Research Group, National Core Studies (Longitudinal Health and Wealth) and NIHR/UKRI non-hospitalised long COVID group “CONVALESCENCE”, he is part of the population-based study contribution to understanding COVID-19 and the pandemic.
Rachel Gooberman-Hill, Professor of Health and Anthropology
Director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research where she supports interdisciplinary and cross-Faculty research. Rachael’s own research includes work on long-term conditions, technology development, and access to healthcare in national and international contexts. She has expertise on integrity and inclusion in careers and research design and delivery.
Rona Campbell, Professor of Public Health Research
Professor of Public Health Research and leads the Centre for Public Health. Rona is also the Director of the Bristol and Cardiff NIHR Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team, Bristol lead, Deputy Director and Academic Career Development Lead of the NIHR School for Public Health Research, and co-Chair of the NIHR Public Health Incubator. She has substantial experience in the design and evaluation of complex public health interventions to improve the health of children and young people, particularly in educational settings. Rona has published over 250 academic works. She is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, Member of the Academy of Social Sciences and has a Professorial Fellowship at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Susan Ring, Head of Laboratories and Executive Director of ALSPAC
Dr Sue Ring is Head of the Bristol Bioresource Laboratories (BBL) and Executive Director (Bioresource) of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). She is an expert in the field of biobanking and generation of molecular data for population studies. She has developed policy for governing release of samples to researchers, working with several cohort studies in the UK.
She has been a Designated Individual for a Human Tissue Authority licence for over 15 years and is currently chair of the University of Bristol’s Human Tissue Working Group. She has published more than 200 scientific papers and has 25 years of experience of biobanking and managing sample resources for epidemiological studies.
Tom Gaunt, Professor of Health and Biomedical Informatics
Professor of Health and Biomedical Informatics, MRC Investigator and Programme Lead in the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit. He is an expert in population health data science, molecular epidemiology and development of research software and his research is focused on cardiometabolic disease and cancer research. He has published over 235 scientific papers and works with a number of academic and pharmaceutical collaborators internationally.
Zoe Holland, Research Development Manager
Research Development Manager within our Research and Enterprise Division (RED). She works with the health research community, supporting health-related research development, working on large and/or strategic research funding applications, and building and maintaining relationships with key research funders.