Meet the Team

Head of the research team

Dr Laura Shallcross leads a research group which uses electronic health records to investigate the diagnosis and management of infection and antimicrobial resistance, with the overarching goal to develop interventions to improve antibiotic use in healthcare settings. She leads the VIVALDI study, a programme of research which was rapidly established during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to investigate infection, immunity and its duration in care home staff and residents.

Data scientists

Dr Maria Krutikov, MBChB MRCP MSc, Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Fellow.
Maria is an infectious diseases and microbiology specialist physician by training who has recently completed an MSc in infectious disease epidemiology and has been awarded a Wellcome Trust clinical PhD fellowship. She is carrying out her fellowship within the DHSC-funded Vivaldi study for which she played a significant role in setting it up. Her research focusses on the risk factors for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in care homes as well as investigating the immune response to infection amongst staff and residents.

Statisticians

Dr Oliver Stirrup is a statistician based within the Institute for Global Health, and has worked on the Vivaldi study since October 2021. He completed a PhD in Medical Statistics at UCL’s MRC Clinical Trials Unit in 2016, and since then has worked on observational studies of HIV in the UK and on cluster randomised trials in the fields of maternal and sexual health. He previously worked as statistician on the COG-UK HOCI study of SARS-CoV-2 transmission within hospitals.

Prof Andrew Copas is a statistician jointly in the Institute for Global Health and the MRC Clinical Trials Unit, and he provides statistical oversight for VIVALDI. He is director of the Centre for Pragmatic Global Health Trials and has a research interest in the design of cluster randomised trials. He has previously contributed to several major studies in infection disease epidemiology including FluWatch and the ongoing Natsal British national sexual behaviour survey. In terms of current COVID-19 research, besides VIVALDI, Andrew contributes to Viruswatch and the COG-HOCI study of hospital acquired infection

Project management and facilitation

Borscha Azmi, Project Manager
Borscha joined the VIVALDI Study as Project Manager in February 2021. Prior to joining UCL, she has worked on largescale research programmes at King's College London, IoPPN and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Visiting Researchers

Dr Natalie Adams is a Public Health Registrar currently on placement as an Honorary Research Fellow at UCL, working the VIVALDI study. Natalie has a background and research interest in infectious disease epidemiology and surveillance.

UCL Staff

Professor Andrew Hayward, Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care

Dr Tom Palmer, Institute for Global Health

Dr Gillian Forbes, Centre for Behaviour Change

Dr Fabiana Lorencatto, Centre for Behaviour Change

Wider network

Professor Paul Moss, University of Birmingham

Dr Rachel Bruton, University of Birmingham

Mr James Robson, Four Seasons Healthcare

Dr Susan Hopkins, Public Health England

Professor Jeremy Farrar, Wellcome Trust