Rajnikant Mehta, BSc (Hons) in Mathematics, Statistics and Computing, MSc in Medical Statistics, Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP)

Profile

I am a Senior Clinical Trials Statistician within the Centre for Evaluation and Methods for the Barts Clinical Trials unit, Queen Mary University of London. I have more than 25 years’ experience in medical statistics, clinical trial design and epidemiology.

After completing my BSc (Hons) degree in Mathematics, Statistics and Computing – University of Greenwich, my career started when I was appointed as a Medical Statistician, working at Clinical Research Centre (MRC), Northwick Park Hospital, London, supporting allied medical professional design clinical trials, analysis of large longitudinal cohort studies and then leading to peer reviewed journal publication. Whilst at the MRC I’d obtained an MSc in Medical Statistics from the University of London - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

I then moved to Glaxo SmithKline (Canada) supporting respiratory disease portfolio, Department. Addictive Behaviour and Psychological Medicine (University of London) as a statistician before joining the University of Southampton/Research and Development Support Unit (RDSU) unit as a medical statistician. At the RDSU I was involved in many medical research studies, supporting a diverse cohort of medical practitioners with the design and analysis of their clinical studies, NIHR grant applications, I was the lead on a particular taught module in MSc Medical Statistics program hosted by the School of Mathematics, and I also obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) from the University of Southampton. In 2007 to 2018 I joined the University of Nottingham/Leicester very similar role to what I had at the University Southampton. In 2018 I moved to the Birmingham Clinical Trial Unit – University of Birmingham where I worked collaboratively with medical professionals develop their research question into a fundable robust clinical trial commissioned by NIHR and charitable organisation.  

Research

Research Interests:

My main interest is in developing clinical trials that are efficient and deliverable, and which improve outcomes for the populations being studied. Furthermore, with the many surgical trials that I have support, I have great interest in pain management trials.

Methodological interests include: Cluster Randomised Control Trials, Stepped Wedge Design, Factorial Design, Adaptive Design and Multi Stage Multi Arm (MAMS) Design and Bayesian methods.

Publications

Featured publications

• O Nasher, NJ Hall, R Mehta, Y El-Gohary, M Knight. Long-gap esophageal atresia: gastric transposition or esophageal lengthening with delayed primary anastomosis? A systematic review. Paediatric Surgery International 2024, Vol:40, Num 112.

 

• D Kaur, R Mehta, H Jarrett, S Jowett, N Gale, AM Turner, MA Spiteri, N Patel. A phase III, 2 arm, multi-centre, open label, parallel-group randomised designed clinical investigation of the use of a personalised early warning decision support system to predict and prevent acute exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - 'Predict & Prevent AECOPD' -Study Protocol BMJ Open 2023;13

 

• Ben Shelley; Andreas Goebel; Stephen Grant; Lousie Jackson; Hugh Jarett; Marcus Jepson; Amy Kerr; Nandor Marczin; Raj Mehta; Teresa Melody; Lee Middleton; Babu Naidu; Lajos Szentgyorgyi; Sarah Tearne; Ben Watkins; Matthew Wilson; Andrew Worrall; Joyce Yeung; Fang Gao Smith. Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of thoracic epidural and paravertebral blockade in reducing chronic post-thoracotomy Pain: 2 (TOPIC 2) Trials 2023.

 

• Moussa A. Zouache, Ms. Caitlin D. Faust , Mr. Vittorio Silvestri , Dr. Stephen Akafo , S.Y. Lartey , Rajnikant Mehta , Prof. Joseph Carroll , Dr. Giuliana Silvestry , Dr. Gregory Hageman , Dr. Winfried M. Amaoku. Retinal and Choroidal Thickness in an Indigenous Population from Ghana: Comparison with Individuals with European or African Ancestry. Ophthalmology Science 2023

 

• Gittins, Adam & Talbott, Nick & Gilani, Ahmed & Packer, Greg & Browne, Richard & Mullhi, Randeep & Khan, Zaheed & Whitehouse, Tony & Belli, Antonio & Mehta, Rajnikant & Gao-Smith, Fang & Veenith, Tonny. (2020). Outcomes following acute poor-grade aneurysmal subarachnoid bleed – Is early definitive treatment better than delayed management?. Journal of the Intensive Care Society. 22. 175114372094656. 10.1177/1751143720946562.

 

• Li, Ting & Li, Jun & Yuan, Liyong & Wu, Jinze & Jiang, Chenchen & Daniels, Jane & Mehta, Rajnikant & Wang, Mingcang & Yeung, Joyce & Jackson, Thomas & Melody, Teresa & Jin, Shengwei & Yao, Yinguang & Wu, Jimin & Chen, Junping & Smith, Fang & Lian, Qingquan & Lin, Han & Ma, Jianfeng & Lin, Yan. (2021). Effect of Regional vs General Anesthesia on Incidence of Postoperative Delirium in Older Patients Undergoing Hip Fracture Surgery: The RAGA Randomized Trial. JAMA. 327. 10.1001/jama.2021.22647.

 

• Avery, Anthony & Sheehan, Christina & Bell, Brian & Armstrong, Sarah & Ashcroft, Darren & Boyd, Matthew & Chuter, Antony & Cooper, Alison & Donnelly, Ailsa & Edwards, Adrian & Prosser Evans, Huw & Hellard, Stuart & Lymn, Joanne & Mehta, Rajnikant & Rodgers, Sarah & Sheikh, Aziz & Smith, Pam & Williams, Huw & Campbell, Stephen & Carson-Stevens, Andrew. (2020). Incidence, nature and causes of avoidable significant harm in primary care in England: Retrospective case note review. BMJ quality & safety. 30. 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-011405.

 

• Mario Cibelli, John P.M. White, Harjot Singh, Luigi Vivona, Rajnikant L. Mehta, Tessa Oelofse, Alex Midgley-Hunt, Tony Whitehouse, Tonny Veenith, Fang Gao Smith. A novel ultrasound-guided pectoralis-intercostal rectus-sheath (PIRS) block for the management of chest wall analgesia after cardiac surgery: a prospective population-based cross-sectional control study. Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2020

 

• Andrew Carson-Stevens, Stephen Campbell, Alison Cooper, Sarah Armstrong, Darren Ashcroft, Matthew Boyd, Huw Evans, Rajnikant Mehta, Christina Sheehan, Aziz Sheikh, Brian Bell, Anthony Avery. Identifying ‘avoidable harm’ in family practice: A RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method consensus study. BMC Family Practice 2019, 20:134

 

• Rachel Elliott, Rajnikant Mehta et al. Supporting adherence for people starting a new medication for a long term condition: a 26 week follow up of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of the English community pharmacy adherence support service, the ‘New Medicine Service’. BMJ Quality & Safety November 2019,

 

• Edward Roddy, Kris Clarkson, Milisa Bucknall, Rajnikant Mehta, Raymond Oppong, Anthony Avery, Elaine Hay, Carl Heneghan, Liz Hartshorne, Julie Hooper, Gemma Hughes, Sue Jowett, Martyn Lewis, Paul Little, Karen McCartney, Kamal Mahtani, David Nunan, Miriam Santer, Sam Williams, Christian Mallen. Open-label randomised pragmatic trial (CONTACT) comparing naproxen and low-dose colchicine for the treatment of gout flares in primary care. Ann Rheum Dis 2019