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Elizabeth A. Spencer is a British epidemiologist and researcher at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM), University of Oxford, whose research focuses on systematic reviews, multimorbidity, and evidence synthesis. [1]
Spencer’s research spans areas of public health including living reviews, biomarkers, self-care in chronic conditions, and the impact of environmental exposures on health. [2] She has advanced strategies for managing multimorbidity. [3] [4] [5] [6] She has also enhanced methodologies in evidence synthesis, emphasising well-defined research questions, transparent methodologies, and comprehensive search strategies. [7]
At the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM), [8] Spencer is a major contributor to the Evidence-Based Multimorbidity Project. This initiative focuses on developing strategies for the early recognition, screening, and treatment of multimorbidity, aiming to reduce the burden of chronic conditions. [9] [10]
She has been involved in studies at CEBM including "Tamiflu as a Treatment for Influenza," evaluating its efficacy in combating influenza [11] and "Primodos and Congenital Malformations," which investigated the potential links between the hormonal pregnancy test and birth defects. [12] In addition, she has contributed to "Green Tea and Blood Pressure Effects," which examined the potential benefits of green tea consumption on blood pressure [13] and "Transmission of SARS-CoV-2," a study that focused on understanding the transmission dynamics of the virus, particularly among asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals. [14]
Spencer was also involved in the launch of Open Evidence Reviews, an initiative by CEBM providing real-time updates on evidence related to COVID-19. This initiative addressed critical areas such as transmission dynamics, the effectiveness of public health interventions, and the role of PCR cycle thresholds in predicting infectiousness. [15] Her additional research suggests that PCR cycle threshold values may be crucial in predicting the infectiousness of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic individuals with COVID-19. This study, part of a comprehensive review, highlights the importance of PCR testing in understanding transmission dynamics. [16]
She has researched the risks of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) using large-scale databases. She has also contributed to the Million Women Study, a landmark research project investigating the health of women aged 50 and over, with a focus on evaluating the risks and benefits of HRT and other health factors. [17] [18] [19] [20]
Multimorbidity, also known as multiple long-term conditions (MLTC), means living with two or more chronic illnesses. For example, a person could have diabetes, heart disease and depression at the same time. Multimorbidity can have a significant impact on people's health and wellbeing. It also poses a complex challenge to healthcare systems which are traditionally focused on individual diseases. Multiple long-term conditions can affect people of any age, but they are more common in older age, affecting more than half of people over 65 years old.
Dame Valerie Beral was an Australian-born British epidemiologist, academic and a specialist in breast cancer epidemiology. She was Professor of Epidemiology, a Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford and was the Head of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford and Cancer Research UK from 1989.
Walter Ian Lipkin is the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and a professor of Neurology and Pathology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. He is also director of the Center for Infection and Immunity, an academic laboratory for microbe hunting in acute and chronic diseases. Lipkin is internationally recognized for his work with West Nile virus, SARS and COVID-19.
The Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI) is an interdisciplinary research institution associated with the University of Florida. The institute focuses on fusing key disciplines to develop outreach, education, and research capabilities designed to preserve the region's health and economy, as well as to prevent or contain new and re-emerging diseases. Researchers within the institute work in more than 30 different countries around the world, with over 250 affiliated faculty members stemming from 11 University of Florida colleges, centers, and institutes. The 90,000-square-foot building includes laboratories and collaborative space for bioinformatics and mathematical modeling.
Dame Angela Ruth McLean is professor of mathematical biology in the Department of Biology, University of Oxford, and Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government.
Tom Jefferson is a British epidemiologist, based in Rome, Italy, who works for the Cochrane Collaboration. Jefferson is an author and editor of the Cochrane Collaboration's acute respiratory infections group, as well as part of four other Cochrane groups. He was also an advisor to the Italian National Agency for Regional Health Services.
The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM), based in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, is an academic-led centre dedicated to the practice, teaching, and dissemination of high quality evidence-based medicine to improve healthcare in everyday clinical practice. CEBM was founded by David Sackett in 1995. It was subsequently directed by Brian Haynes and Paul Glasziou. Since 2010 it has been led by Professor Carl Heneghan, a clinical epidemiologist and general practitioner.
Elizabeth Anne Bukusi FAAS is a research professor working within the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, and global health. Bukusi's main areas of research focus around sexually transmitted infections, women's health, reproductive health, and HIV care, prevention and treatment. Bukusi is the Chief Research Officer at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and led a "landmark" study on the use of PrEP in Kenya.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 testing involves analyzing samples to assess the current or past presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that cases COVID-19 and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The two main types of tests detect either the presence of the virus or antibodies produced in response to infection. Molecular tests for viral presence through its molecular components are used to diagnose individual cases and to allow public health authorities to trace and contain outbreaks. Antibody tests instead show whether someone once had the disease. They are less useful for diagnosing current infections because antibodies may not develop for weeks after infection. It is used to assess disease prevalence, which aids the estimation of the infection fatality rate.
COVID-19 infection in pregnancy is associated with several pregnancy complications. However, pregnancy does not appear to increase the susceptibility of becoming infected by COVID-19. Recommendations for the prevention of COVID-19 include the same measures as non-pregnant people.
COVID-19 surveillance involves monitoring the spread of the coronavirus disease in order to establish the patterns of disease progression. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends active surveillance, with focus of case finding, testing and contact tracing in all transmission scenarios. COVID-19 surveillance is expected to monitor epidemiological trends, rapidly detect new cases, and based on this information, provide epidemiological information to conduct risk assessment and guide disease preparedness.
Allison Joan McGeer is a Canadian infectious disease specialist in the Sinai Health System, and a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. She also appointed at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a Senior Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and is a partner of the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases. McGeer has led investigations into the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in Toronto and worked alongside Donald Low. During the COVID-19 pandemic, McGeer has studied how SARS-CoV-2 survives in the air and has served on several provincial committees advising aspects of the Government of Ontario's pandemic response.
Jennifer J. Kurinczuk is a British physician who is a Professor of Perinatal Epidemiology and Director of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford. In 2019 she was named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurinczuk investigated the neonatal complications of coronavirus disease.
Carl James Heneghan is a British general practitioner physician, a clinical epidemiologist and a Fellow of Kellogg College. He is the director of the University of Oxford's Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and former Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.
Marian Knight is a British physician who is a Professor of Maternal and Child Population Health at the University of Oxford. She is an Honorary Consultant of Public Health for Public Health England. During the COVID-19 pandemic Knight studied the characteristics and outcomes of pregnant women who tested positive for COVID-19.
The transmission of COVID-19 is the passing of coronavirus disease 2019 from person to person. COVID-19 is mainly transmitted when people breathe in air contaminated by droplets/aerosols and small airborne particles containing the virus. Infected people exhale those particles as they breathe, talk, cough, sneeze, or sing. Transmission is more likely the closer people are. However, infection can occur over longer distances, particularly indoors.
Sir Andrew John Pollard is the Ashall Professor of Infection & Immunity at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. He is an honorary consultant paediatrician at John Radcliffe Hospital and the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group. He is the chief investigator on the University of Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine trials and has led research on vaccines for many life-threatening infectious diseases, including typhoid fever, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, streptococcus pneumoniae, pertussis, influenza, rabies, and Ebola.
The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium was a group of academic institutions and public health agencies in the United Kingdom created in April 2020 to collect, sequence and analyse genomes of SARS-CoV-2 at scale, as part of COVID-19 pandemic response.
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