Research focus
The overall aim of my research is to understand the role of maternal diet on glucose control in women with diabetes in pregnancy. More specifically, I want to know if individual nutritional components (such as dietary fibre) can help normalise glycaemia in this population. I’m also interested in new technologies used to monitor glucose, such as continuous glucose monitoring.
Background and experience
I completed an MSc in Human Nutrition, and moved to Cambridge to join the MRC Epidemiology Unit. Here I worked across many studies, primarily assisting with data collection, data cleaning and study co-ordination. I learned everything I need to know about conducting research in healthy populations. In 2021, I joined Claire Meek’s research group at the IMS-MRL to learn more about clinical research in the field of maternal health. The best thing about my job at the IMS-MRL is having the independence to manage your own schedule but knowing you have a great team to support you.
Working at the IMS-MRL
My PhD explores the importance of diet and physical activity in pregnant women, including women with diabetes in pregnancy. I am also comparing the precision and accuracy of different methods for measuring glucose. Day to day, I oversee the running and data collection of number of studies (observational and intervention) alongside my brilliant team! For example, I coordinate the observational study in pregnancy hyperglycaemia, endocrine causes, lipids, insulin and autoimmunity (OPHELIA study) and supervised the recruitment of over 1000 pregnant women, in collaboration with local hospitals. Data from these studies will form part of my thesis and will be written up into scientific publications.
