University of Oxford - Research Statistician;
University College London - Research Scientist (honorary);
University of Cambridge - Health Data Scientist (honorary)
Education summary
BSc Mathematical Sciences - University of Bath;
MSc Statistics (Research) - LSE;
PhD Applied Biostatistics for Neuromuscular Disease – UCL
Career summary
Although my background is in mathematics and statistics, I have always been very interested in applying quantitative methodology to real-world, and particularly clinical, problems. My introduction to neuromuscular disorders began in 2020, when I started to work on a PhD applying my statistical knowledge to clinical problems in DMD and SMA under the supervision of Giovanni Baranello and Francesco Muntoni at Great Ormond Street Hospital and UCL in London. This work involved the analysis of the large-scale observational datasets from the national and international registries, enabling insights into complex clinical questions.
During my PhD, I led a range of translational projects across the two diseases. This included modelling the relationship between steroids, growth and motor function in DMD, creating normative reference centiles for the NSAA, and predicting sitting in SMA 1 patients treated with nusinersen. As part of a team with clinicians, speech and language therapists, and physiotherapists, I helped to evaluate tools for the assessment of bulbar function in SMA, and to understand the longitudinal characteristics of the RHS in patients with SMA 2 and 3. I was also able to collaborate with trialists to present the real-world evidence arms of two trials in DMD (Vamorolone and Tamoxifen).
Currently, I am working as a postdoctoral research statistician in Oxford’s STRONG department, where I divide my time between working on clinical trials in DMD, SMA, Angelman and Nemaline Myopathy, and on analysing data from the Syde watches, such as the SV95C.
Outside of neuromuscular diseases, I have also worked on projects in oncology (both lung and kidney cancer) and in infectious diseases (including optimal treatment methods for HIV).
What is the personal or professional achievement you’re most proud of?
Whilst not a specific event, the achievement I am proudest of is my ability to work with a wide range of colleagues with distinct interests to translate clinical questions into objective and reliable insights. This skill evolved during my PhD, when I moved from studying mathematics and statistics to applied statistics in neuromuscular research. I had to become adept at understanding the different “languages” and priorities of neurologists, paediatricians, physiotherapists and basic scientists, which must all then be considered when developing statistical methodologies. Conversely, I also learnt the benefit of creating an iterative modelling process, where the full scope of the model, along with its associated uncertainty and limitations, is communicated to all collaborators.
A good example of this is my work on understanding the relationship between growth, steroid use and motor function in DMD. This complicated clinical question requires a layered methodology. I first sought to quantify separately the impact of steroids on growth in DMD and age at loss of ambulation, in collaboration with clinicians, and the variability of the NSAA with age, in collaboration with physiotherapists. After establishing and disseminating these initial results, it was then possible to employ more complicated statistical models to look at all three variables at once. This yielded key insights for clinicians to discuss steroid side effects with patients and parents. In this way, I successfully translated clinical understanding from both fields into objective numerical insights that could be understood and used by a wider range of people.
Why did you first join the WMS?
I first joined WMS in order to attend the WMS Congress virtually in 2021. As a translational researcher, working at the intersection of neuromuscular disorders and statistics, this gave me a unique insight into the breadth of neuromuscular disease research and helped me strengthen my neuromuscular knowledge. However, what really stood out to me, and has kept me attending since, was the strong sense of community. Through the WMS congress, I have connected with many collaborators, leading to new academic- and pharma-led projects, and I always come away from the conference invigorated and excited for more research.
What is your goal in joining the Executive Board?
As part of the WMS Executive Board, my first goal is to help shape a Congress that brings the most exciting developments in neuromuscular disorders to the centre stage. I am particularly excited by the wide range of disease-modifying treatments approved globally, and how insights from these therapies can accelerate progress in rarer neuromuscular disorders. Ensuring these developments are represented at the Congress is a priority for me.
As a statistician, I am passionate about using emerging technologies to progress neuromuscular research forward. In particular, I am excited about federated learning approaches for combining international data and the increasing use of AI and ML across treatment identification, MRI scanning and prediction over time which I have previously seen presented at WMS. In joining the WMS Executive Board, I hope to help spotlight these innovations.
As an early career researcher, and specifically a postdoctoral researcher, I understand the increasing complexity of the academic and clinical career landscape with time, and how crucial community support is to navigating career development successfully. Therefore, I hope to foster peer-to-peer support for early-career researchers using both networking events at the WMS congress and the virtual myology cafes. In particular, I am interested in gathering survey feedback to understand challenges early-career researchers face, and how the WMS can target these areas. Building on the previous career-development events at the WMS congress, I would also be interested in encouraging informal mentoring relationships between mid-career and early-career researchers.
