Nick Harvey
Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton, and Director of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre.
I trained in medicine at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. I am Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton and Director of the University’s MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, where I lead a programmatic structure investigating the lifecourse epidemiology, determinants and underlying mechanisms of common chronic noncommunicable musculoskeletal disorders of ageing, principally osteoporosis, sarcopenia and osteoarthritis, to inform novel preventive and therapeutic interventions. I am Chair of the International Osteoporosis Foundation Committee of Scientific Advisors; a Board Member of the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases; a former Trustee of the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) and was inaugural Vice-Chair of the ROS Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy. I am a Fellow of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). I have won many national/international prizes, most recently the International Osteoporosis Foundation Olof Johnell Science Award. I have published over 400 articles, have accrued>£50m grant funding and am a member of many national/ international committees, including as Musculoskeletal Lead for the UK Biobank Imaging Study, as a member of the UK National Osteoporosis Guideline Group Advisory Committee, as a past member of the ASBMR Professional Practice Committee, and as clinical co-chair of the 2021 ASBMR Annual Meeting.
Karen Walker-Bone
Professor of Occupational Rheumatology and Director of the Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at Monash University in Australia.
Karen trained originally in Medicine at Southampton University Medical School, UK, graduating in 1991. She chose to specialise in Rheumatology and was awarded a prestigious Arthritis Research UK (now Versus Arthritis) fellowship to do her PhD 1999-2002 about the epidemiology of neck and upper limb disorders in working aged adults and from there developed a particular interest in the relationship between work and health. Between 2013-2021, she was an MRC Investigator, Leader of an MRC Programme on Work and Health and Director of the MRC Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work. Karen migrated to Australia in December 2022 to take up her new role as Professor of Occupational Rheumatology and Director of the Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health. Her research focuses on musculoskeletal health in the workplace and she has broader interests in promoting health at work; mental health and work; women in the workplace and older workers.
Elaine Dennison
Professor of Musculoskeletal Epidemiology
I am a rheumatologist and epidemiologist who graduated from Cambridge University in 1990. I have worked at the MRC LEC since 1994 when I joined as a research fellow. I completed my PhD at Southampton as part of a Wellcome training fellowship which included a Masters in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine. While my PhD focused on another cohort based at the MRC LEC, the Hertfordshire Cohort Study, I have been involved in the HEAF study for a number of years. My research interests focus around musculoskeletal aging, specifically how we might make positive changes in mid-and later life for long-term benefits to our health.
Cyrus Cooper
Past-Director MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre
and Professor of Rheumatology
I graduated in medicine from the Universities of Cambridge and London, before completing my training in general medicine and rheumatology in Southampton. I initially joined the MRC Environmental Epidemiology Centre in 1985, when I commenced my doctoral research on the epidemiology of osteoporosis. Thereafter, I continued collaborative research with colleagues in the Centre while I travelled to Bristol and the United States, before returning as a Consultant Rheumatologist and MRC Senior Scientist in 1992.
My principal research interests are the causes and prevention of chronic age-related musculoskeletal disorders, including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and sarcopenia.
Stefania D’Angelo
Senior Research Fellow
I completed an MSc in Statistics from the University of Bologna in 2009. I joined the MRC LEC in 2012 and I was involved with the HEAF study since its inception. As a statistician of the HEAF study, I am responsible of performing data cleaning, and analysis of data collected. I am the point of contact for participants of the study. In 2021 I registered for a part-time PhD which uses the HEAF data to explore changes to health, employment circumstances and lifestyle that occurred since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Georgia Ntani
Statistician
I completed my diploma (5-year degree) in Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 2008. Whilst there, I also trained as a medical statistician in the Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences. I then moved to the UK to complete an MSc in Statistics with Applications in Medicine at the University of Southampton in 2009. I joined the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre in 2010.
I currently work as a statistician in the Work and Health group and in the Arthritis Research UK/MRC centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work. I was awarded a PhD in 2017 for my work based on a large international study of cultural and psychosocial influences on musculoskeletal pain and associated disability. I have more recently been working with other statisticians on the HEAF study.
Elena Zabella
Senior Research Fellow
Elena studied a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). After a post graduate role in health and safety she was granted a scholarship from the National Institute of Workplace Safety and Hygiene, in Spain. Later, she went on to complete a Master’s degree in Occupational Health at Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain).
Elena currently is doing a PhD at the Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work under the supervision of Dr Karen Walker-Bone, Dr Clare Harris and Professor Nigel Arden. The PhD aims to assess whether after knee or hip arthroplasty it is possible to return to work to any type of occupation and heavy occupational demands increase the risk of joint failure or other adverse outcomes.
Vanessa Cox
Computing Manager
I joined the MRC Environmental Epidemiology Centre in 1991, initially as an analyst programmer responsible for IT and data processing aspects of a number of the Centre’s projects, in particularly the Hertfordshire Cohort Studies.
Since becoming the IT manager in 2003, I have been responsible for managing the Centre IT department, a team of programmers, analysts and data entry assistants. I also manage the IT policies and I am responsible for data security and protection within the Centre. My primary interest is in maintaining the reputation of the Centre for producing high quality research data.
I have been involved with the HEAF study since it began. I am responsible for the management and preparation of all the HEAF data, from both the questionnaires and from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. The data is protected with sophisticated security systems and you can feel assured that only our staff and collaborating scientists will view the information.
Gregorio Bevilacqua
Research Fellow
I was awarded my PhD in Musicology from the University of Bologna, Italy. I held postdoctoral positions in Musicology both in France and the UK. I joined the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre (MRC LEC), University of Southampton, in September 2017 as a Senior Administrator, where I started being involved with the running of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS). Working with the MRC LEC, I gradually moved from my previous field of expertise and began contributing to some of the Centre’s research. In 2021, I was appointed as a Research Fellow and started contributing to various epidemiological research outputs in both the HEAF and HCS studies. Working with the HEAF cohort allowed me to investigate how a negative perception of work may affect workers’ loneliness, what is the impact of menopausal symptoms on work, and how health behaviours among HEAF participants changed during the COVID pandemic. These studies have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Julie Coleman
Receptionist and Data Processing Assistant
I have worked at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre since 1984.
I have been involved with the HEAF study since it began. Both Janet and I prepare the questionnaire packs to go out to all the participants. When questionnaires are returned, I am part of the team of four data processors who carefully enter the information on to a computer database.
Janet Comley
Receptionist and Data Processing Assistant
I have been a receptionist at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre since 1998.
I have been involved with the HEAF study since it began. Both Julie and I prepare the questionnaire packs to go out to all the participants. When questionnaires are returned, I am part of the team of four data processors who carefully enter the information on to a computer database.
James Gifford-Hull
Data Processing Assistant
I have worked at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre since 2011.
I have been involved with the HEAF study since the study started.
When questionnaires are returned, I am part of the team of four data processors who carefully enter the information on to a computer database.
Adam Price
Data Processing Assistant
I have worked at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre since 2013.
I have been involved with the HEAF study since I started here. When questionnaires are returned, I am part of the team of four data processors who carefully enter the information on to a computer database.