Contact
Expertise Summary
Stephanie's broad portfolio spans quantitative and qualitative methods, including:
- Spectral clustering of flow cytometry data
- Estimation of incidence and prevalence from registry data
- Survival analysis from registry data
- Meta-analysis, including network meta-analysis
- Reflexive thematic analysis
She generally uses R for data management, analysis, and visualisation, and supports teaching of statistical programming in R at MSc-level.
Research Summary
Stephanie joined the RECORDER team (Registration of Complex Rare Diseases - Exemplars in Rheumatology) in 2023 to explore the epidemiology of rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases using national… read more
Recent Publications
SANTER M, RIDD MJ, HARVEY J, LAX SJ, MULLER I, ROBERTS A and THOMAS KS, 2024. Atopic eczema in primary care: evidence update and implications for practice British Journal of General Practice. 74(738), 40-42 LAX SJ, ROBERTS A, CLIFFE E, RAMESH G, AYODELE D, WILLIAMS HC, BELMO S and LEIGHTON P, 2023. Public views are needed for skin colour scales British Journal of Dermatology. 189(5), 623–624 HARVEY J, LAX SJ, LOWE A, SANTER M, LAWTON S, LANGAN SM, ROBERTS A, STUART B, WILLIAMS HC and THOMAS KS, 2023. The long-term safety of topical corticosteroids in atopic dermatitis: a systematic review Skin Health and Disease. 3(5), e268
Current Research
Stephanie joined the RECORDER team (Registration of Complex Rare Diseases - Exemplars in Rheumatology) in 2023 to explore the epidemiology of rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases using national datasets. Whilst data management and analysis are a key focus, she is passionate about patient and public involvement, and led the launch of the RECORDER Public Partnership on 18th November 2023. To more fully appreciate the patient perspective on taking steroids, Stephanie is currently undertaking a qualitative analysis in collaboration with the University of West of England, Bristol.
She is also a long-standing service-user member of the Nottingham Maternity Research Network and co-investigator on "Primary prevention of maternal ANaemia to avoid preterm Delivery and other Adverse outcomes" (PANDA) funded by a £2.4m NIHR programme grant.
Past Research
Whilst working at the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology (2018-2023), Stephanie's main focus was to deliver landmark Cochrane systematic reviews comparing eczema treatments, including strategies for using topical corticosteroids in children and adults with eczema, phototherapy for atopic eczema, and a network meta-analysis of topical anti-inflammatory treatments for eczema. Alongside, she contributed to a review of the long-term safety of topical corticosteroids, including observational data, and a comparison of topical steroid potency classifications. Stephanie also helped deliver two projects where ideas were conceived through patient workshops. These were 'Describe Your Skin', exploring how to describe skin tone more inclusively in health and disease; and 'The Dragon in My Skin', part of a knowledge mobilisation project to improve lay eczema knowledge and promote self-care.
Whilst at the University of York (2013-2018), Stephanie worked with the Haematological Malignancy Research Network and contributed to a report of the epidemiology of lymphoma subtypes. She was also involved in the development of software for estimation of disease prevalence from incomplete longitudinal data: Crouch S, Lax SJ, Lacy SE. 'rprev: estimating disease prevalence from registry data', Comprehensive R Archive Network, first released 2nd September 2016. Details of how to obtain up-to-date code can be found here, with a user guide here.
Future Research
Stephanie's primary areas of expertise are in epidemiology and evidence synthesis. Particular points of enthusiasm are in interdisciplinary collaborations, patient, parent, and carer involvement, and public engagement.