Professor Beth Stuart

Profile

I am a medical statistician with many years of experience designing and delivering clinical trials nationally and internationally.  In my role as Director of the Pragmatic Trials Unit, I am responsible for providing leadership of the unit and ensuring that we deliver a portfolio of high-quality studies that change clinical practice.  

My career started in the Primary Care Research Centre in Southampton, working closely with clinicians to design clinical trials and large observational cohort studies, and then leading on their analysis and interpretation.  I have also worked at the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, as co-lead for the Statistics Group and Scientific Lead for all non-Cancer studies – primarily focusing on studies in primary care, mental health and surgery.  I have been the statistical lead on over £30 million in funding applications and co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles. 

In my role at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, I continue my interest in clinical trials in primary care and the community.  I work collaboratively with researchers to develop their research questions into fundable and deliverable trials for a range of fundings including NIHR, UKRI and charitable organisations.  I am also Chair of the UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network, helping the dermatology community design high-quality independent clinical trials and supporting capacity building to train the next generation of researchers. 

Research

Research Interests:

My primary interest is in the development and analysis of clinical trials to improve evidence and change clinical practice to deliver better outcomes for patients.  My interests span a wide spectrum of health but I have a long standing interest in infections, respiratory health, dermatology and mental health.  My methodological areas of interest include outcome measurement and evidence synthesis.  

Publications

Please click through to see a complete list of Beth’s publications

Outstanding publications

• Stuart, B., Hounkpatin, H., Becque, T., Yao, G., Zhu, S., Alonso-Coello, P., Altiner, A., Arroll, B., Böhning, D., Bostock, J., Bucher, H. C., Chao, J., De La Poza, M., Francis, N., Gillespie, D., Hay, A. D., Kenealy, T., Löffler, C., McCormick, D. P., ... Little, P. (2021). Delayed antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract infections: Individual patient data meta-analysis. The BMJ, 373, [n808]. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n808
• Little, P., Francis, N. A., Stuart, B., O'Reilly, G., Thompson, N., Becque, T., Hay, A. D., Wang, K., Sharland, M., Harnden, A., Yao, G., Raftery, J., Zhu, S., Little, J., Hookham, C., Rowley, K., Euden, J., Harman, K., Coenen, S., ... Verheij, T. (2021). Antibiotics for lower respiratory tract infection in children presenting in primary care in England (ARTIC PC): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet (London, England), 398(10309), 1417-1426. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01431-8
• McManus, R., Little, P., Stuart, B., Morton, K. S., Raftery, J., Kelly, J. M., Bradbury, K., Zhang, J., Zhu, S., Murray, E., May, C. R., Mair, F., Michie, S., Smith, P. W. F., Band, R., Ogburn, E., Allen, J., Rice, C., Nuttall, J., ... Yardley, L. (2021). Home and Online Management and Evaluation of Blood Pressure (HOME BP) using a digital intervention in poorly controlled hypertension: randomised controlled trial. British Medical Journal, 372, [m4858]. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4858
• Stuart, B., Maund, E., Wilcox, C., Sridharan, K., Sivaramakrishnan, G., Regas, C., Newell, D., Soulsby, I., Tang, K. F., Finlay, A. Y., Bucher, H. C., Little, P., Layton, A. M., & Santer, M. (2021). Topical preparations for the treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris: systematic review and network meta-analysis. British Journal of Dermatology, 185(3), 512-525. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.20080
• Santer, M., Ridd, M., Francis, N., Stuart, B., Rumsby, K., Chorozoglou, M., Becque, T., Roberts, A., Liddiard, L., Nollett, C., Hooper, J., Prude, M., Wood, W., Thomas, K., Thomas-Jones, E., Williams, H., & Little, P. (2018). Emollient bath additives for the treatment of childhood eczema (BATHE): multicentre pragmatic parallel group randomised controlled trial of clinical and cost effectiveness. BMJ, 361(8151), [k1332]. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k1332

Supervision

Samantha Hornsey, NIHR School of Primary Care Research, Management of Paediatric Chronic Insomnia in Primary Care

Stephanie Hughes, Exploring Experiences of Men Undergoing Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer and Their Significant Others