About me: I hold an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Before I joined UCL, I worked at the Robert Koch Institute and the Charité in Berlin. I also have an interest in using big data sets and conducting cross-country comparisons. Most recently I was involved in projects using linked national administrative data to analyse childhood mortality and chronic conditions in childhood.
The difference my research makes: My research is focused on getting the most out of clinical infant nutrition trials. These are usually very expensive and traditionally suffer from high losses to follow-up over time. Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge about long-term effects of certain supplements in baby formula. I want to fill this gap with my study.
School attainment is often used as a proxy for cognitive development and it is an interest in its own right for many parents and decision makers. I am therefore linking participant data from 11 historical (‘dormant’) baby formula trials to national education records in the UK.
There are two main goals I hope to achieve with my PhD: firstly, I would like to generate knowledge about the long-term educational outcomes for babies fed certain infant formulas. Secondly, I hope that my PhD project will offer a proof-of-concept to other researchers so they can eventually make more cost-effective and ethical use of their dormant trials. I started my PhD in October 2017.
Supervisors: Professor Ruth Gilbert, Professor Mary Fewtrell and Professor John Jerrim
Publications:
- Disability and participation in breast and bowel cancer screening in England: a large prospective study
S Floud, I Barnes, M Verfürden, H Kuper, T Gathani, RG Blanks, R Alison, J Patnick, V Beral, J Green, GK Reeves
British journal of cancer (2017)
- Risk factors for admission to hospital with laboratory-confirmed influenza in young children: birth cohort study
P Hardelid, M Verfürden, J McMenamin, R Gilbert
European Respiratory Journal (2017)
- Avoidable mortality from respiratory tract infection and sudden unexplained death in children with chronic conditions: a data linkage study
Verfürden, Maximiliane; Gilbert, Ruth; Sebire, Neil; Hardelid, Pia (submitted)
Pathway: Quantitative Social Science
Location: UCL, Institute of Education
