Staff
Nicholas Harvey
Director; Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology
Nicholas Harvey, MA MB BChir PhD FRCP FAOP FASBMR, trained in medicine at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He is Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton and Director of the University’s MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, where he leads an MRC programme, using a lifecourse approach to the epidemiology, determinants and prevention of osteoporotic fractures. He is Chair of the International Osteoporosis Foundation Committee of Scientific Advisors; a member of the ESCEO Board; a former Trustee of the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) and was inaugural Vice-Chair of the ROS Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy. He is a Fellow of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). He has won many national/international prizes, most recently the International Osteoporosis Foundation Olof Johnell Science Award. He is an investigator on >£50m grant funding, has published >400 articles and is a member of many national/ international committees, including as Musculoskeletal Lead for the UK Biobank Imaging Study, 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.
Elaine Dennison
Professor of Musculoskeletal Epidemiology & Honorary Consultant in Rheumatology
I trained at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge before moving to Southampton in 1992 to undertake a medical rotation at Southampton General Hospital. I did the research leading to my PhD in Hertfordshire, looking at relationships between how people grow early in life and their risk of osteoporosis in adulthood. I enjoyed the work so much that when it was suggested I might help with the next phase of the Hertfordshire Study, I was delighted to participate.
I have been working on the study since 1998; over that time I have also been appointed as a consultant in rheumatology and a Professor at Southampton University. My particular interest remains osteoporosis and other changes in the musculoskeletal system with age (osteoarthritis and changes in muscle) and the factors that make some people particularly vulnerable.
Kate Ward
Professor
I am a biologist and graduated with a BSc(Hons) in Biomedical Technology from Sheffield in 1995. I have always been keen to work in understanding human health and disease from a physiological perspective and have been a researcher in bone for over twenty years, starting as an undergraduate placement student. In 1999 I was awarded my PhD in Human Biology from Leeds and then moved to Manchester, and down to Cambridge in 2008, before joining Southampton in 2016 as an Associate Professor.
My research interests are in muscles and bones, understanding how they work together to stay healthy, also how nutrition and activity play a role. My research spans the life course, from childhood and adolescent years through to ageing. I have worked with the Hertfordshire cohort since 2011 when members of the cohort came to Cambridge for bone and muscle measurements and am helping to manage the latest round of data collection using all the latest imaging techniques. We have learnt in great detail how bone shape, size and structure are influenced by early life environment and muscle health through life. I look forward to continuing this into the future.
Nick Fuggle
Associate Professor
Nick Fuggle is an Associate Professor at the MRC LEC and an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at University Hospitals Southampton. He completed his PhD, which was funded by a Doctoral Research Fellowship from the Dunhill Medical Trust, under the supervision of Professors Cyrus Cooper and Elaine Dennison. In this he used the HCS to investigate how epigenetic biomarkers detected in our blood predict how we age. His other passion is artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques which he continues to research in the Hertfordshire Cohort and other settings
Cyrus Cooper
Past Director 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 Unit 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.
I took over direction of the Unit in 2003, following the retirement of Professor David Barker and am proud of the achievements of all our staff in continuing a strong and internationally prominent research tradition.
Vanessa Cox
IT Manager
I have been involved with the Hertfordshire cohort study since 1991. I am responsible for the management and analysis of all the Hertfordshire data. This includes information from the Hertfordshire birth records, as well as all the information you have given us through questionnaires and clinics. The data is protected with sophisticated security systems and you can feel assured that only our staff and collaborating scientists will view the information.
Leo Westbury
Statistician
I started working as a statistician at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre in October 2013 after completing an MSc in Statistics at the University of Warwick.
My research focus is on the lifecourse epidemiology of musculoskeletal ageing. My role involves implementing statistical methods to explore determinants and examine health-related consequences of poor or declining musculoskeletal health in older age. In 2021, I completed a PhD on this topic.
I have used data from participants of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study to: explore determinants of hand grip strength and walking speed; examine the role of inflammation on muscle and bone health; assess the health and social care costs associated with muscle weakness in the UK; and examine longitudinal changes in bone parameters and their relationship with fracture risk.
Camille Parsons
Statistician
I obtained an MSc in Statistics with Applications in Medicine from the University of Southampton in October 2010, and joined the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre in September 2012.
I use the Hertfordshire Cohort Study to complete a wide spectrum of research, publishing results that have varied from examining the relationship between poor physical performance and knee osteoarthritis, improving understanding of the developmental origins of osteoarthritis, and analysis performed to enable a better understanding of the agreement between different methods of diagnosing osteoarthritis. In the future I hope to continue using the Hertfordshire Cohort Study to further explore the natural disease progression of osteoarthritis.
Gregorio Bevilacqua
Research Fellow
I graduated in Musicology from the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna (Italy), where I also completed my PhD in 2009. From 2009 to 2015 I worked as a research assistant in France and the United Kingdom, where I continued my research on Medieval and Renaissance music.
I first joined the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre in September 2017 as a Senior Administrator, being mostly involved with the daily organisation of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study and the Hertfordshire 3G Study (you can imagine that when the questionnaires are returned there is a lot of post to be dealt with!). I am currently a Research Fellow with the MRC LEC, where my main research focuses on how social isolation and loneliness may impact health and health-related behaviours.