Meet the team

Aziz Sheikh is Professor of Primary Care Research and Development and leads The University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute. He has long been an expert in using routinely collected health care data to do public health related research. Aziz oversees the project and works tirelessly to make and maintain curcial connections with national decision makers.

Aziz Sheikh’s profile 

Ting Shi is a Chancellor's Fellow at The University of Edinburgh. She is an epidemiologist with a particular interest in global respiratory epidemiology. As co-Principal Investigator, Ting will support in constructing the study's design and interpreting its results.

Ting Shi’s profile 

Chris Robertson is our Lead Investigator for Scotland. He is a Professor of Statistics at the University of Strathclyde, and particular expertise in the analysis of linked health data and infectious diseases. He is also the Head of Statistics at Public Health Scotland. Chris will oversee and coordinate all of the Vaccine Booster Project's statistical analyses.

Chris Robertson’s profile 

Samantha Lycett is our Co-lead Investigator for Scotland. She is a Senior Lecturer and Group Leader in Pathogen Phylodynamics at the University of Edinburgh. In the Vaccine Booster Project, Samantha will lead on viral genomic sequence data analyses.

Samantha Lycett’s profile 

Simon de Lusignan is our Lead Investigator for England. He is a senior academic GP and Professor of Primary Care and Clinical Informatics at the University of Oxford. He is also Director of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC). Alongside Richard Hobbs, Simon will support the project's national data access in England,  oversee the replication of analyses in England and provide a clinical perspective on the project's findings.

Simon de Lusignan’s profile 

Alongside Simon de Lusignan, Richard will support the project's national data access in England,  oversee the replication of analyses in England and provide a clinical perspective on the project's findings.

Richard Hobb’s profile 

Mark Joy is our Core Researcher for England. He is a Senior Research in Applied Statistics in Healthcare and Population Health Modelling at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care. Mark is also the project's Lead Data Analyst for England.

Mark Joy’s profile 

Declan Bradley is our Lead Investigator for Northern Ireland. He is a Clinical Lecturer at Queen’s Belfast University. Alongside Dermont O'Reilly, Declan will support the project's national data access in Northern Ireland, oversee the replication of analyses in Northern Ireland and provide a clinical perspective on the project's findings.

Decland Bradley’s profile 

Dermont O’Reilly is oneour Senior Investigators for Northern Ireland. He is a Clinical Professor at Queen’s University Belfast. Alongside Decland Bradley, Dermont will support the project's national data access in Northern Ireland, oversee the replication of analyses in England and provide a clinical perspective on the project's findings.

Demont O’Reilly’s profile 

Lyndsey Patterson is the projects Lead Data Analyst for Northern Ireland.

Lyndsey Patterson’s profile 

Dr Jim McMenamin is Interim Clinical Director of Health Protection Scotland, part of Public Health Scotland, and is their Incident Response Director for the COVID-19 response. He is a member of the UK New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threat Advisory Group (NERVTAG). In this project, Jim will provide public health input, as well as help to foster and maintain a strong relationship with colleagues in Public Health Scotland and the UK Health Security Agency.

In this project, Zoe will provide public health input, as well as help to foster and maintain a strong relationship with colleagues in Public Health Scotland and the UK Health Security Agency.

Fatima Almaghrabi is a Postdoctoral Data Analyst at The University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute. Her research interests lie in the areas of decision supporting systems, data science, explainable artificial intelligence (AI), and their applications in health care related research. She is the project's Lead Data Analyst for Scotland. 

Fatima Almaghrabi's Profile

Ashley Akbari is our Co-lead Investigator for Wales. He is Senior Research Manager & Data Scientist at Swansea University. Alongside Ronan Lyons, Ashley will support the project's national data access in Northern Ireland, oversee the replication of analyses in Wales and provide a clinical perspective on the project's findings.

Ashley Akbari’s profile 

Ronan Lyons is one of our Senior Investigators for Wales. He is Clinical Professor of Public Health at Swansea University, and Co-director at the SAIL Databank. Alongside Ashley Akbari, Ronan will support the project's national data access in Wales, oversee the replication of analyses in Wales and provide a clinical perspective on the project's findings.

Ronan Lyons’ profile 

Stuart Bedston is a data analyst based at Swansea University. He is this project's Lead Data Analyst for Wales.

Gabriella is our project’s Communications and Engagement Officer, based at the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute.

Lana Woolford is our Patient Public Involvement Lead. She works from the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute.

Natalia is our Project Manager at the University of Edinburgh. She is based in the Usher Institute.

I am a former mental health nurse. Due to a number of long term health conditions, I have been unable to work for a long time, but contributing as a volunteer to my community has always been important to me. I have been doing patient and public involvement work for nearly ten years and am involved in projects across the UK.  I was keen to get involved with EAVE and the work being done having had COVID-19 myself.

I live with a rare auto immune disease and multiple long term conditions and was required to shield. I am an experienced public contributor and am committed to the value that Patient and Public involvement and insight adds to research. I enjoy working collaboratively with researchers to ensure that we are asking the right research question, analysing data in a meaningful way ,and disseminating the findings in a language that everyone understands. No one wants research to succeed more than people living with conditions, and this pandemic has brought home the absolute value of robust research and data.