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Professor Rohini Mathur is celebrated in Women in Data ‘Top Twenty in Data and Tech’

Rohini Mathur, Professor of Health Data Science at CEG, has been selected for the ‘Top Twenty in Data and Tech’, an annual initiative by Women in Data that celebrates inspirational, trailblazing and dedicated women. 

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Professor Rohini Mathur

Over the next year, Rohini will join her Top Twenty peers as a proactive ambassador for diversity in data and tech through speaking opportunities and mentorships. We are thrilled that the Top Twenty in Data and Tech award will amplify Rohini’s research and inspire a wider audience of women and allies across the globe.

Rohini studies globally diverse health datasets to understand ethnic inequalities in cardiometabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. She is also co-leading a Quality Improvement programme in Thailand which will prevent thousands of early deaths from diabetes and chronic kidney disease, and leading important research to improve equitable care for pregnant women and their children. Through her international collaborations, Rohini is building a global network to address the gap left by historic under-representation of ethnically diverse populations in health research. 

The judges commented: "This woman is improving lives by addressing health inequalities through data. This woman shows real-life impact in Data4Good by simplifying the explanation of complex data problems with the aim to improve the lives of people impacted by environmental factors that contribute to health inequalities. She is also shaping the future of data science, by setting up a new MSc in Health Data Science course and mentoring the new generation with coding, theoretical and statistical skills."

Let's hear from Rohini:

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m currently working on a few really exciting projects. Firstly, I’m co-leading an NIHR Global Health Research Group, a collaboration between the Clinical Effectiveness Group at Queen Mary, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Chiang Mai University in Thailand, where we are trialing data-supported Quality Improvement approaches to managing hypertension, diabetes, and kidney disease in Thai primary care settings. Secondly, as part of the Barts Charity-funded Precision Health programme, and in collaboration with colleagues in Genes and Health, I’m exploring ethnic differences in cardiometabolic disease and treatment response. Thirdly, in collaboration with Professor Julia Hippisley-Cox’s team and Professor Sarah Finer, I’m embarking on a new project improving evidence around the safety and effects of medicines in pregnancy.

What excites you most about your current research?

The historic under-representation of certain populations in clinical research means that we lack high-quality evidence on how to deliver safe, effective, and equitable care for all. This includes populations from the Global South, minoritized ethnic groups, and of course, women. We are now in an era where high-quality health-related data are increasingly available across different countries and diverse populations, creating an exciting opportunity to generate robust evidence around how to ensure our health and social services meet the needs of everyone.

What are the top three decisions or moments that got you to this point in your career?

  1. As an undergraduate student in Canada, I was contemplating graduate studies both at home and in the UK. One of my professors strongly recommended I apply to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, due to the unique opportunity to study alongside an international cohort from a wide variety of professional backgrounds - I ended up staying there for 11 years!
  2. After completing my MSc I was temping through an agency, I ended up getting a maternity cover post at Queen Mary University of London, in the Clinical Effectiveness Group (CEG). There I learned everything I know about using electronic health records for research, to drive quality improvement, and tackle health inequalities – which really set the path for my future PhD studies and career. Poetically I’m now back at the CEG and have recently taken over as the academic lead.
  3. During the COVID-19 pandemic I advised the UK Government as a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) Ethnicity Subgroup, which brought together people from academic, government, charity, educational, and housing sectors. This experience of cross-disciplinary, highly collaborative working transformed my approach to research, which has greatly benefited from multidisciplinary, team science approaches.

 

What do you do outside of work that contributes positively to your mindset?

I am currently learning Kathak, an Indian classical dance form. I take classes online with a teacher in India, we met in person this past January for the first time in three years!

Which areas of research do you think could make the biggest difference to women’s health over the next 10 years?

Women’s health is a hugely understudied area. I was shocked to learn that only 5% of medicines are approved for use during pregnancy, this is a gap we are urgently trying to fill. Research bringing together multimodal health, genetic, and other ‘omic data will transform our understanding of disease pathophysiology and trajectories across the life course, and how these differ between women and men. Addressing the wider determinants of health and structural determinants of health drawing on quantitative, qualitative, and social science approaches will also be essential to effect real societal change.

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