Meet The Team
Dr Sarah Murray
Chief Investigator STOPPIT-3 Trial
University of Edinburgh
Dr Murray is a SCREDS Clinical Lecturer in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Deanery of Clinical Sciences
Prof Sarah Stock
Former Chief Investigator STOPPIT-3 Trial
Wellcome Trust Clinical Career Development Fellow. Reader and Honorary Consultant Maternal and Fetal Medicine
Dr Stock’s research focuses on the pregnancy complications preterm birth and stillbirth. Each year more than 15 million babies are born preterm, and 2.5 million are stillborn. Dr Stock’s aim is to develop better ways of predicting and diagnosing pregnancy complications enabling safe, personalised care for mothers and babies. Current research interests include Medicines in Pregnancy, COVID-19, Lockdown and perinatal outcomes, Antenatal Corticosteroids, Preterm labour, Fetal Inflammation, Diagnosing preterm labour, Intrauterine Growth Restriction, Stillbirth
Prof Rebecca Reynolds
Chief Investigator STOPPIT-M Study
Personal Chair of Metabolic Medicine
Professor Reynolds is Dean International, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Professor of Metabolic Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Honorary Consultant Physician in Diabetes & Endocrinology, NHS Lothian and Deputy Head of the Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Edinburgh. Her research focus is a life-course approach to prevention of non-communicable diseases. She has a) used healthcare-record data-linkage and cohort studies to document the consequences of a mother’s health in pregnancy on the health of next and future generations; b) identified underpinning mechanisms through experimental medicine studies embedded within clinical practice; and c) tested novel interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes in clinical trials.
Denise Cranley
Trial Manager for STOPPIT-3
Denise has an MSc in Clinical Trials and has worked in a variety of research roles at the University of Edinburgh since 2007. Denise joined the Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit in 2020 and is currently the lead Trial Manager for the STOPPIT 3 study.
Lorraine Adamson
Administrator for STOPPIT-3
Lorraine has worked in Reproductive Health Clinical Trials since 2008. Never a dull moment!
Amy Nugent
Assistant Trial Manager, STOPPIT-3
Amy has a MSc in Precision Medicine and Pharmacological Innovation from the University of Glasgow and has previously worked within the Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility. Amy joined ECTU in 2024 and is the current Assistant Trial Manger for STOPPIT-3.
Indira Kemp
Research Midwife for STOPPIT-3
Indira is a Research Midwife with the Edinburgh Pregnancy Research Team and is the lead midwife for STOPPIT-3 and STOPPIT-M in Edinburgh.
STUDY GRANT CO-APPLICANTS
Our study co-applicants comprise of clinicians with extensive experience in obstetrics, midwifery and neonatology and members with clinical and trial expertise.
We also have two lay co-applicants who bring different expertise to the project; through personal experience and through their work with a charity that helps to engage women from minority groups in healthcare research.
Prof James Boardman
Prof Boardman’s goal is to develop and evaluate neuroprotective strategies for fetuses and neonates at risk of brain injury and poor neurodevelopmental outcome. He researches the role of neonatal quantitative MR imaging to investigate causal pathways to brain injury, the factors that confer risk or resilience to injury after perinatal adversity, and the relationship between quantitative MR features and long-term functional outcome. He is scientific director of the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory at the University of Edinburgh / MRC Centre for Reproductive Health.
Jane Denton
Director of the Multiple Births Foundation (MBF) and Co-lead of the Elizabeth Bryan Multiple Births Centre (EBMBC) at Birmingham City University. The MBF works with professionals to raise awareness and improve services to meet the specific and special needs of multiple birth families. Jane Denton’s professional background is nursing and midwifery with a specialist interest in infertility. This led to her work with the MBF as the implications of multiple births arising from infertility treatments began to emerge in the late 1980s.
Natasha Fenwick
Natasha works for Twins Trust, the only UK-wide charity dedicated to improving the lives of twins, triplets or more and their families. Since 2018 she has coordinated the charity’s involvement in research, with the aim of improving health outcomes and elevating the voices and needs of this unique community in research, alongside her other role arranging support for families in need.
Prof Debra Bick
Professor of Clinical Trials in Maternal Health, and commenced my post in February 2019. Lead on a new maternity research theme within Warwick Clinical Trials Unit and provide support to develop and support research alongside colleagues at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwick (UHCW). Research programme focuses on the impact of pregnancy and birth on maternal and infant physical and psychological health, the interest in this area increasing due to evidence of impact on health over the life-course. Lead/collaborate on several multi-centre clinical trials and studies which aim to inform if and how interventions during the perinatal period can lead to better outcomes for women, their infants and families, and for the NHS.
Kathleen Boyd
Reader in the Health Economics for Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA) group, and Director of Research for the School of Health & Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. She leads the Economic Evaluation alongside Clinical Trials theme, with a track record of successful research grants working alongside world-leading clinical collaborators to design and undertake economic evaluations within a wide variety of health care areas. She supports and advises collaborators regarding trial design, economic evaluations incorporating modelling, and evaluations of complex and public health interventions. Her research spans a wide range of clinical areas and different types of health technologies including pharmacological treatments, medical devices, diagnostic tests and public health and social care interventions. Kathleen is also a lead Health Economics Reviewer for the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), reviewing and presenting to the SMC New Drugs Committee, which directly informs decision making policy in Scotland.
Prof Asma Khalil
Professor of Obstetrics and Maternal Fetal Medicine at St George’s Hospital, University of London. She leads the Twin and Multiple Pregnancy Service and together with the Twins Trusts, set up the first Twins Trust Centre for Research and Clinical Excellence at St George’s Hospital. She is the Lead author of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG) guideline on the role of ultrasound in twins. She also led the guideline team developing the FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics) guideline on twin pregnancies. She was a member of the NICE Guideline Committee updating the Twin and Multiple Pregnancy guidance. She chaired the steering group of the national Maternity Engagement project working closely with the Twins Trust and 30 maternity units in the UK. This quality improvement initiative was funded by the Department of Health and aimed at improving the outcomes of twin pregnancies through implementation of the NICE guidance
Manuela Deidda
Manuela is a Research Associate in Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment and also leads the Economics of population health (EPH) research programme within the Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment (HEHTA) group.
Prof Jane Norman
Prof Jane Norman is Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Bristol. Prof Norman’s research interests are normal and abnormal parturition, preterm birth and stillbirth.
Prof John Norrie
Professor of Medical Statistics and Trial Methodology, Director of the Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit and Co-Head of the Centre for Population Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. He specialises in genetic, molecular and population health sciences.
Prof Karen Luyt
Prof Luyt holds a tenured clinical-academic position in Neonatal Medicine at the University of Bristol. She works as a clinical neonatologist in the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care unit at St Michael’s Hospital, Bristol, with special interests in brain injury, neuro-intensive care and improving health outcomes in high risk infants.
