Staff – MRCLEC

Baird, Janis

Professor

Baird, Janis

Name
Professor Janis Baird
Qualifications
FFPH, PhD, DRCOG, DCH, MB BCh
Role
Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant in Public Health

Janis Baird is Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton. Her research focuses on the translation of evidence of the developmental determinants of health and disease into public health policy and practice. Janis leads an MRC programme focused on improving cardio-metabolic health across the lifecourse. Her research incorporates epidemiological studies, examining the factors and predict cardio-metabolic health and the mechanisms that link them with later disease, and complex intervention studies which aim to improve health and nutrition before conception and during pregnancy, with a particular focus on reducing inequalities.

Janis has contributed to the development of evidence-based practice, both locally through effective knowledge translation, and nationally through committee work including a leadership role at NICE. Locally, her research has directly influenced the city council’s Obesity Prevention Plan 2017. Nationally, she has been a core member of a NICE Public Health Advisory Committee since 2016 and, in 2018, was appointed as vice chair of the committee. As well as having extensive experience of systematic review, she also has an interest in evaluation of complex interventions. She led the development of the 2015 Medical Research Council guidance on process evaluation of complex intervention studies.

Janis graduated in medicine from Cardiff in 1987. She trained in General Practice before entering Public Health Medicine in 1993. She was a research fellow at the MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit (EEU) between 1994 and 1997 during which time she carried out her doctoral studies exploring the environmental and genetic origins of blood pressure and glucose tolerance in a cohort of adult twins. Having completed specialist training in Public Health Medicine she returned to the MRC EEU in 2001. In 2002 she was awarded an MRC Special Training Fellowship in Health of the Public Research during which she carried out a series of linked systematic reviews to explore the association of infant growth with health and well-being across the life course and to assess the implications of this evidence for public health policy.

Background

Qualifications

MB BS, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff (1987)
DCH Royal College of Paediatrics (1992)
DRCOG, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (1993)
MFPH, Faculty of Public Health (2001)
PhD Epidemiology, University of Southampton (2001)
FFPH, Faculty of Public Health (2007)

Appointments held

2017 to present Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant in Public Health, University of Southampton, University Hospital NHS Trust, Southampton General Hospital
2014-17 Associate Professor of Public Health Medicine and Honorary Consultant in Public Health, University of Southampton, University Hospital NHS Trust, Southampton General Hospital
2012-14 Senior Lecturer in Public Health Medicine and Honorary Consultant in Public Health, University of Southampton, University Hospital NHS Trust, Southampton General Hospital
2006-11 Senior Research Fellow and Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine, University of Southampton, University Hospital NHS Trust, Southampton General Hospital
2002-06 MRC Special Training Fellow in Health Service and Health of the Public Research and Honorary Consultant in Public Health, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, University Hospital NHS Trust, Southampton General Hospital

Research Interests

My research takes a behavioural systems approach to improving cardio-metabolic health across the lifecourse, with an emphasis on preconception and pregnancy. The Southampton Women’s Survey and our other observational studies at the MRC LEU underpin our programme of research allowing us to understand the factors that influence health and the mechanisms that link them with disease. This enables the development of complex interventions that aim to improve health behaviours before conception and during pregnancy.

Responsibilities

NIHR Public Health Research Programme 2019-
Society for Social Medicine Senior Career Researcher Committee, Chair 2019-
NICE Public Health Advisory Committees (PHAC) vice-chair of PHAC C, 2018-
Expert Adviser NICE Centre for Guidelines 2017-2019
Archives of Public Health, section editor methodology 2016-18
NICE Public Health Advisory Committees (PHAC) core member of PHAC C, 2016-
NICE Public Health Advisory Group on safe sunlight exposure 2013-15
University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine Athena Swan Committee 2015-
Human Development and Health Athena Swan sub-committee 2016-
NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Regional Advisory Committee for the South Central and South East region 2014-2018
Chair of MRC PHSRN Process Evaluation in Complex Interventions Guideline Development Group 2011-14
International Society for Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity 2015-
Society for Social Medicine, committee member 2012-15
Member of Faculty of Public Health Child Health Interest Group 2002-
Member of NCCHTA college of experts
Archives of Public Health – member of editorial board 2011-
NIHR peer reviewer 2008-
Co-author of BMA report: Early Nutrition and Lifelong Health 2009
NICE consultation on maternal and child nutrition – Faculty of Public Health representative September 2005
FPH annual scientific meeting – organisation of child public health conference sessions (peer review and abstract selection) 2003-06
Member of Health Development Agency low birth weight reference group 2002-03.
WHO advisory group on nutrition and low birth weight – rapporteur for scientific meeting 2003.

Janis Baird's Publications

Barker, Mary

Professor

Barker, Mary

Name
Prof Mary Barker

Qualifications
BSc, MSc, PhD

Role
Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Science

I am a chartered psychologist with experience of working in academic public health research and the public sector.

The focus of my work is the development and evaluation of behaviour change interventions designed to improve diet, physical activity and well-being. I am involved in the development and testing of a programme of complex behaviour change interventions to improve diet and body composition in population health settings in low, middle and high income countries. These primarily target adolescents and women of childbearing age, to translate findings from epidemiological and mechanistic studies of the developmental origins of health and disease into interventions to improve long-term health and well-being. These interventions offer the opportunity to test models of health behaviour, and have helped elucidate the psychological mechanisms that underlie behaviour change in young women.

Our team’s ‘Healthy Conversation Skills’ approach to improving diet and physical activity has been widely adopted in the UK as the delivery mechanism for the UK government’s ‘making every contact count’ agenda (http://www.wessexphnetwork.org.uk/mecc) and in large projects around the world, including the Healthy Start Workforce programme in New Zealand (http://www.healthystartworkforce.auckland.ac.nz/en.html) and the Healthy Lifecourse Trajectory Initiative (HeLTI) in Canada, South Africa, India and China (http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/49510.html). A Healthy Conversation Skills approach to improving public health was mentioned in the report of the WHO commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, has informed priority setting by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, was featured in the 2015 Chief Medical Officer for England’s annual report and is credited by the Royal Society for Public Health.

I received a BSc in Psychology from the University of Southampton in 1986 and an MSc in Environmental Psychology from the University of Surrey in 1988. My research interest at the time was in the relationship between offending behaviour and the physical environment and, as a consequence, was appointed Research Officer working for the UK government at the Home Office. This led to a period conducting research at the University of Bristol studying the development of sex offender treatment programmes in prisons and the probation service. I moved into health research following my appointment at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton in 1994. I completed my PhD in 1999 and have ever since carried out research aiming to identify ways of supporting young women to become better nourished, both for their own health and well-being and for the growth and long-term health of their babies. I was appointed Honorary Reader in Psychology, at the UCL Institute for Women’s Health in January 2017 and Visiting Professor at the University of Agder, Norway in 2018.

Mary Barker's Publications

Barrett, Millie

Senior Research Assistant

Barrett, Millie

Name
Ms Millie Barrett

Qualifications
MSc in Public Health (Nutrition); BSc in Nutritional Therapy; MA (Hons) in Spanish

Role
Senior Research Assistant on the EACH-B programme

I first worked at the MRC LEU in 2015 when I came to work with Dr Christina Vogel on my dissertation project: a secondary data analysis of SWS children’s diet quality and body composition data, investigating a relationship with access to different types of food outlet in the home and school environment (see publication below).

Having completed the MSc in Public Health (Nutrition pathway) at the University of Southampton in 2015 I then worked for the NIHR Cancer and Nutrition Infrastructure Collaboration at the Southampton Biomedical Research Centre for two years, before joining the University of Southampton’s Clinical Trials Unit where I worked on the FORECAST trial. As a Trial Manager I was responsible for the day to day running of this Phase IV cardiovascular trial and led on the opening of eleven UK hospital sites and recruitment of 1400 patients into the trial.

My main interest lies in delivering and evaluating public health interventions for children and adolescents with a focus on diet and physical activity, which has led me back to the MRC LEU to be part of the team delivering the complex intervention with adolescents (EACH-B).

Publications:

Barrett, M., Crozier, S., Lewis, D., Godfrey, K., Robinson, S., Cooper, C., … Vogel, C. (2017). Greater access to healthy food outlets in the home and school environment is associated with better dietary quality in young children. Public Health Nutrition, 20(18), 3316-3325. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980017002075

Barton, Sheila

Senior Statistician

Barton, Sheila

Name
Dr Sheila Barton
Qualifications
PhD
Role
Senior Statistician

Sheila Barton obtained an MSc in Statistics with Applications in Medicine from the University of Southampton in 2000. She began working at the School of Medicine in October 2000, initially for the Infection, Inflammation and Immunity division in the area of asthma genetics. She now teaches the Statistical Genetics Module of the MSc Statistics with Applications in Medicine course for the School of Mathematics. She has also worked for the Research and Development Support Unit and, more recently, for the University of Southampton Clinical Trials Unit.

She obtained a PhD in May 2010 entitled ‘Statistical analysis of proteomic profile data generated by tandem mass spectrometry’.

She joined the Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the end of August 2010 mainly to work on analysis strategies for genetic and epigenetic data. Her research interests are the analysis of genetic data including microarray and methylation data to investigate possible associations between genotype and phenotype.

Sheila Barton's Publications

Bevilacqua, Gregorio

Senior Administrator

Bevilacqua, Gregorio

Name
Dr Gregorio Bevilacqua

Qualifications
PhD

Role
Senior Administrator

I studied musicology in Italy at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, where I received my MA in 2004, with a study on Spanish instrumental music of the Renaissance, and earned my PhD in 2009, presenting a thesis on thirteenth-century music theory. I also have a Classical Guitar Diploma from the Conservatoire of Music Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna. From 2009 I held postdoctoral positions and undertook administrative responsibilities in both France and the United Kingdom.

I joined the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit in September 2017 as a Senior Administrator. At the MRC LEU I am mostly involved with the daily organisation of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study and the Hertfordshire 3G Study. I am the main contact for these studies’ participants, some of whom I had the chance to meet at the Hertfordshire Cohort Study Open Day in Harpenden in June 2018. I have also been assisting with studies of bones, and work and health.

Bloom, Ilse

Research Nutritionist

Bloom, Ilse

Name
Miss Ilse Bloom
Qualifications
BSc MSc ANutr
Role
Research Nutritionist

Background:

I studied at the University of Lisbon, where I completed a BSc in Dietetics and Nutrition. I then went on to complete an MSc in Public Health Nutrition at the University of Southampton. I have since worked with Age UK South Staffordshire on a community-based project focusing on the prevention of undernutrition in older adults.

In 2013, I joined the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit and have been undertaking a PhD at the University of Southampton since 2015. I have been working on a project funded by the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, aimed at improving the diets of community-dwelling older people. Currently, the main focus of my work is on methods of early nutritional screening in this population.

Research interests:

I am interested in promoting healthy diets and lifestyles among older adults, with the goal of enabling them to maintain their health and their quality of life as they grow older.

My research focuses on understanding the influences on the diets of older people; key findings of my work have highlighted the importance of social and psychological factors as influences on diet. I hope to use these findings in the development of interventions aimed at improving the diets and health of community-living older populations. My research also focuses on evaluating a screening method that could detect early nutritional risk in community-dwelling older adults; this could contribute to the wider implementation/use of a simple method to detect poor diets and low nutrient intakes, and prevent the development of overt malnutrition in this population.

Ilse Bloom's Publications

Coakley, Patsy

Analyst Programmer

Coakley, Patsy

Name
Mrs Patsy Coakley
Qualifications
BSc
Role
Computer Programmer

Patsy has a BSc in Computing and worked at the ONS before joining the MRC in 2000. She works on a variety of studies but mainly on the Mumbai Maternal Nutrition Study and the Southampton Women’s Survey.

Patsy Coakley's Publications

Coggon, David

Emeritus Professor

Coggon, David

Name
Emeritus Professor David Coggon

Qualifications
OBE MA PhD DM FRCP FFOM FFPH FMedSci

Role
Emeritus Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

David Coggon studied mathematics and medical sciences at the University of Cambridge before graduating in clinical medicine from the University of Oxford in 1976. Following SHO and registrar appointments in internal medicine at the City Hospital Nottingham, he joined the newly formed MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit in Southampton in 1980. There he completed a PhD on occupational cancer under the supervision of Professor Donald Acheson, and trained as specialist in occupational medicine.

He continued to work for the MRC in Southampton throughout his career, conducting epidemiological research mainly on the inter-relationship of work and health, and on environmental causes of disease. Notable discoveries included a previously unrecognised hazard of infectious lobar pneumonia in workers exposed to metal fume, demonstration that farmers experience substantially elevated risk of hip osteoarthritis (from heavy lifting), and contributions to the recognition of occupational kneeling as a cause of knee osteoarthritis.

In parallel with his research, he was much involved in the translation of science into policy, serving on numerous national and international scientific advisory committees, including the Advisory Committee on Pesticides, Depleted Uranium Oversight Board and Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (all of which he chaired); the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (for which he was awarded an OBE in 2002); and the Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards, Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, and Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation.

As President of the UK Faculty of Occupational Medicine during 2008-11, he initiated a new national accreditation scheme for occupational health services.

In 2014, he became the first Director of the Arthritis Research UK/MRC Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work.

Since retiring from paid employment at the end of 2015, Professor Coggon has continued with his research in a part-time emeritus role, focusing particularly on the contribution of culturally determined health beliefs and expectations to disability from back pain and other common musculoskeletal complaints. He is also a Trustee of the Colt Foundation, which is the largest non-governmental funder of occupational health research in the UK.

Coleman, Julie

Data Processing / Receptionist

Coleman, Julie

Name
Mrs Julie Coleman
Qualifications
Role
Data Processing Assistant and Receptionist

Julie works at the MRC as a Receptionist and Data Processing Assistant.

Comley, Janet

Receptionist / Data Processing

Comley, Janet

Name
Ms Janet Comley
Qualifications
Role
Receptionist and Data Processing Assistant

Janet is the Receptionist and Data Processing Assistant.

Cooper, Cyrus

Professor of Rheumatology

Cooper, Cyrus

Name
Cyrus Cooper
Qualifications
OBE, MA, DM, FRCP, FFPH, FMedSci
Role
Professor of Rheumatology

Cyrus Cooper is Professor of Rheumatology of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit; Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton; and Professor of Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford.

Professor Cooper graduated from the University of Cambridge and St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London in 1980, and completed his residency in 1985 at the Southampton University Hospitals. In 1990, he won an MRC Travelling Fellowship to the Mayo Clinic, USA, where he continued his research in osteoporosis. He returned to the UK in 1992 to take up a position as Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology and MRC Senior Clinical Scientist. He was promoted to the foundation Chair in Rheumatology at the University of Southampton in 1997 while continuing as an MRC Senior Clinical Scientist at the MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit; in 2003 he was appointed Director of the MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre, University of Southampton. In 2010, this was reconfigured as the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit; quinquennial funding has been extended from 2015 to 2020. He was the inaugural Director of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, and now continues as Professor of Rheumatology, having demitted the Directorship in 2023, after two decades of leading the MRC intramural investment at the University of Southampton.

Professor Cooper leads an internationally competitive programme of research into the epidemiology of musculoskeletal disorders, most notably osteoporosis. His key research contributions have been: 1) discovery of the developmental influences which contribute to the risk of osteoporosis and hip fracture in late adulthood; 2) demonstration that maternal vitamin D insufficiency is associated with sub-optimal bone mineral accrual in childhood; 3) characterisation of the definition and incidence rates of vertebral fractures; 4) leadership of large pragmatic randomised controlled trials of calcium and vitamin D supplementation in the elderly as immediate preventative strategies against hip fracture.

Professor Cooper is Chairman of the Committee of Scientific Advisors, International Osteoporosis Foundation; Chair of the Arthritis Research UK Clinical Studies Initiative; Chair of the BHF Project Grants Committee; Vice-Dean at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton Medical School; an NIHR Senior Investigator; and Associate Editor of Osteoporosis International. He has previously served as Chairman of the MRC Population Health Sciences Research Network; Chairman of the National Osteoporosis Society of Great Britain; past-President of the Bone Research Society of Great Britain; and has worked on numerous Department of Health, European Community and World Health Organisation committees and working groups. He has published extensively (over 800 research papers) on osteoporosis and rheumatic disorders and pioneered clinical studies on the developmental origins of peak bone mass. In 2015, he was awarded an OBE for services to medical research.

Senior Academic Responsibilities (2003 – current)

Chairman, Board of Trustees of the National Osteoporosis Society of Great Britain, 2003-2007.
Chair, Committee of Scientific Advisors, International Osteoporosis Foundation, 2006-current.
Member, Physiological Sciences and Clinical Sciences Board, Medical Research Council, 2006-2010.
Member, MRC Population Health Sciences Group, 2010 – current.
Chair, MRC Population Health Sciences Research Network, 2009-2015.
President, Bone Research Society, 2008-2010.
I.R.M.O. External Scientific Committee, University of Florence, 2009 – current.
Vice-Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, 2011 – current.
Member, Sectional Committee, Academy of Medical Sciences, 2012-current.
Sub-Panel Membership REF 2014, Clinical Medicine UoA 1, 2012-current.
Member, International Advisory Board, Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 2013 – current.
Chair, Sectional Committee 4, Academy of Medical Sciences, 2014-current.
Elected to Fellowship, Royal Society of Biology, 2016.
Chair, Arthritis Research UK Clinical Studies Initiative, 2013–current.
Chair, BHF Project Grants Committee, 2013–current.