Research Methods Course
An Intensive Course Run by the Research Department of Infection and Population Health
Teacher Biographies
Cath Mercer, Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology, trained in demography and as an applied statistician.
She has led the analyses of Britain’s national probability survey of sexual behaviour (National Survey of
Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles) for over 10 years, has published extensively and presented nationally and
internationally. She is experienced in teaching undergraduates and postgraduates.
Pam Sonnenberg, Reader in Epidemiology, leads a multidisciplinary team of public health specialists,
epidemiologists, clinicians, statisticians, anthropologists and behavioural scientists who have an interest in
issues relating to sexual health and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Her current work involves
sexual health and HIV research (both in the UK and internationally), teaching and training.
Maryam Shahmanesh, Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant, has research interests in the
effects of structural factors on health and healthcare, improving access to care for chronic diseases, and
marginalised populations such as sex workers. She is the Institute for Epidemiology and Health Care
graduate tutor for taught courses. Maryam is a clinician at one of the largest HIV and sexual health clinics
in Europe.
Soazig Clifton, Senior Research at NatCen Social Research, is experienced in the design and
implementation of large national health surveys. She has spent the last four years working on the National
Survey for Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, and has a particular interest in sexual health research. Her other
research interests include the use of biological measures on health studies, and research ethics.
Andrew Copas, Reader in Statistics, has considerable collaborative experience from lab research
through to individual and cluster randomized clinical trials, epidemiological studies and surveys. Much of
this research has been in sexual health, women’s and children’s health. He also undertakes methodological
statistical research (methods for analysis of missing data, meta-analysis, and longitudinal data).
Judith Stephenson, Margaret Pyke Professor of Sexual & Reproductive Health, has over 15 years’
experience in the evaluation of sexual & reproductive health (SRH) interventions. She directs a UK
Contraceptive Research Network, was principal investigator for landmark trials of peer-led interventions in
the UK and co-investigator for SRH research in Zimbabwe and India. Her research has impact in sex
education, screening for sexually transmitted infection and use of contraception.
Lewis Haddow, Senior Clinical Research Associate, has worked in sexual health and HIV medicine in
London, Australia and South Africa since 2003. His research interests include HIV-associated
neuropsychological problems and HIV-related complications in patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. He
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teaches clinical and epidemiological aspects of infections on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. He
also works as a doctor in a large HIV and STI clinic in London.
Rebecca Geary, Research Associate, completed a PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine after studying young people’s health services in South Africa. She now does mathematical
modelling and statistical analysis of complex UK behavioural survey data.
Colette Smith, Lecturer in Medical Statistics, conducts research into the effects of HIV and antiretroviral
therapy using large international cohort data. She teaches evidence-based medicine, epidemiology, and
basic and advanced statistics, and is a PhD supervisor in the HIV Biostatistics and Epidemiology group.
Sheena McCormack, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit, has been
coordinating HIV prevention trials for over 20 years. These include vaccine trials, microbicide trials, and
most recently a large and influential trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis in UK men who have sex with men.
She is also a consultant in HIV/genitourinary medicine at the Dean Street clinic in Soho.
Pippa Bark, Principal Research Fellow, leads teaching in medical informatics and patient safety, and
masters dissertation programmes. She studied psychology at Leeds University, later researching medical
accidents, complaints, litigation and developing training in healthcare risk management.
Caroline Sabin, Professor of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, has been teaching the design and
analysis of HIV research studies for over 20 years, runs training courses on statistical methods and is coauthor of the text book “Medical Statistics at a Glance”. She has worked for many years on the analysis of
large observational HIV databases, being principal investigator of the UK CHIC Study and principal
statistician on the D:A:D Study.
Shema Tariq, Clinical Research Fellow / Honorary Consultant, has a joint career in clinical
genitourinary medicine and academic public health. With training in medical anthropology and
epidemiology, a particular interest in combining quantitative and qualitative approaches in research, her
main clinical and academic interests are the health of women living with HIV. She leads PRIME, an
observational study of the menopause and HIV.
Collins Iwuji, Project Coordinator and Senior Clinical Research Associate, is based at the Africa
Centre for Health and Population Studies in South Africa, where he runs a major research programme into
HIV treatment as prevention in a rural, resource-limited setting.
Sarah Pett, Clinical Senior Lecturer, has led randomised controlled trials across more than 60 centres in
Australia, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Research interests include host-directed therapies for HIV
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infection, immune restoration syndromes, respiratory viral and bacterial infections, and long-term metabolic
complications of HIV.
Simon Edwards, Consultant Physician, is HIV clinical lead at the Mortimer Market Centre, where over
4000 people regularly receive HIV outpatient care. He shares consultant responsibility for the HIV inpatient
unit and outpatient joint HIV/oncology services at UCL Hospital. He has co-chaired several British HIV
Association guidelines groups since 2011.
Jonathan Cartledge, Consultant Physician and Senior Lecturer in Medical Education, set up the TIPS
"teaching the teachers" program at UCL and is the director of the MSc in Medical Education run jointly with
the Royal College of Physicians. He has clinical interests in inpatient care and neurocognitive impairment.
Robert Miller, Professor and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Infection, has clinical and research
interests in respiratory opportunistic infections in HIV. He is a Royal College of Physicians Tutor and
Training Programme Director for Core Medical Training. Rob lectures widely on aspects of HIV infection
and opportunistic infections. He is Editor in Chief of British Journal of Hospital Medicine and from 2002 to
2009 was Co-Editor of Sexually Transmitted Infections.
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