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BMJ-TAG staff

BMJ-TAG staff

Director of Health Technology Assessment (HTA)

Dr Steve Edwards DPhil MSc BSc (Hons) 

Steve was brought into the BMJ to form the BMJ-TAG. Since April 2011, the group has supported national decision making by completing research projects for NICE, NIHR and Health Improvement Scotland. Personally, Steve has been involved in conducting systematic reviews and health economic evaluations in a range of therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, CNS, gastroenterology, infection, oncology, and respiratory medicine. His interests are in the use of the best available evidence for decision making with an emphasis on the design and conduct of clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, network meta-analyses and their subsequent use in economic evaluations. His postgraduate research in this area at the University of Oxford resulted in him being awarded the first doctorate of evidence-based health care. In addition, Steve is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, a member of NICE Technology Appraisal Committee A, and a member of the Cochrane Statistical Methods Group, and the Campbell & Cochrane Economics Methods Group. From 2013 to 2018, Steve was a member of the NICE Diagnostics Advisory Committee.

 

Clinical Evidence Analysts

Dr Victoria Wakefield MBChB, Clinical Evidence Manager

Vicky has a clinical background with experience in the fields of general surgery, general medicine, general practice, paediatrics and orthopaedic surgery. Vicky is also an experienced systematic reviewer and has contributed to the publication of systematic reviews and guidelines in a variety of clinical areas. In addition she has experience in the process and use of clinical audit to review current clinical practice within both primary and secondary care settings. Vicky has been directly involved in Health Technology Assessment since 2010 and has experience in diagnostic technology assessments as well as medical therapeutics. Her specialist interests are in public health  and translational medicine.

 

Nicole Downes BMJ TAG

Nicole Downes BSc (Hons), Senior Clinical Evidence Analyst

Nicole is an experienced systematic reviewer who joined BMJ-TAG after four years at the National Guideline Centre working on the development of NICE guidelines across a wide range of disease areas, including cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disease, gastrointestinal conditions and trauma. During her time at the National Guideline Centre, Nicole developed skills in performing different types of systematic reviews, including intervention, diagnostic, prognostic and qualitative, and gained a strong understanding of key systematic reviewing methods and research methodology.

 

Dr Ben Farrar PhD MA (Cantab), Senior Clinical Evidence Analyst

Ben is experienced in statistics, systematic reviews and evidence synthesis. Before joining BMJ-TAG, Ben worked in systematic reviews and statistics for a medical consultancy, and prior to this completed a PhD in psychology. His PhD research focused on evidence synthesis, bias and statistical inference in scientific research. Ben has given talks at international conferences on research methods and he has a particular interest in robust and reproducible evidence synthesis and statistical inference. 

 

Alexander Allen MSc BSc (Hons), Senior Clinical Evidence Analyst

Alex is a systematic reviewer with a decade of experience with leading organisations. He developed NICE guidelines with the National Guideline Centre, worked for NICE in their Guideline development Team and led on guidelines at the British Society for Rheumatology. Alex produced a broad range of systematic reviews that informed health policy and practice in the UK (including assessments of medicines and diagnostic technologies, reviews of non-pharmacological interventions, prognostic prediction and qualitative reviews). He has worked across a range of clinical and public health areas including joint replacement, psoriatic arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome, and weight management. 

Health Economists

 

Tracey Jhita MSc BSc (Hons), Health Economics Manager

Tracey is a health economist who specialises in economic modelling and public health. She has conducted several high profile economic evaluations of health interventions, policies and strategies for organisations such as NICE, the NHS and the European Commission. Technical expertise includes developing cost-benefit analyses using decision and Markov modelling techniques and topic expertise includes preventative interventions for cardiovascular disease and interventions to improve social, emotional and mental well-being.

 

Mariana Bacelar MSc BSc, Content Manager

Mariana has a BSc in Economics and a MSc in Health Economics. Prior to joining the BMJ Technology Assessment Group, Mariana has been involved in conceptualising and developing Public Health economic models for organisations such as NICE and the European Commission; and providing health economics advisory services to various organisations, including not-for-profit companies. Mariana has been involved in Health Technology Assessment since 2013 and her main interests are in health economics modelling and the implementation of HTA programmes in different countries. Mariana has recently participated in a project in Brazil, helping to develop the country's HTA programme.

Kate Ennis MSc BA, Senior Health Economist

Kate has a BA in Economics and an MSc in Economics and Health Economics from the University of Sheffield. Before joining BMJ-TAG she previously worked as a health economic modeller as part of the ScHARR-TAG team for 4 years. Kate has also worked as a health economist in a number of academic institutions since 2012, assessing the cost-effectiveness of a wide range of disease areas, including non-small cell lung cancer, cardiomyopathy, sepsis and encephalitis.

 

Isaac Mackenzie MSc MA (Hons), Health Economist

Isaac has an MA in Economics and an MSc in Health Economics and Econometrics. He has almost three years' experience at a health economics consultancy, working on behalf of pharmaceutical companies for submission to HTA bodies, primarily working on developing economic models and their associated documentation. These submissions included treatments for oesophageal cancer, HIV, ulcerative colitis and atrial fibrillation. Isaac also worked on novel model development and performed quality assurance on colleagues' projects and submissions.

 

Archie Walters MSc BSc (Hons), Health Economist

Before joining the BMJ Technology Assessment Group, Archie worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in their department for Health Services Research and Policy. His research primarily revolved around the emerging COVID pandemic, where he economically evaluated the breadth and depth of NHS services provided to those hospitalised by COVID following discharge, helping to inform fast changing health policies. Archie has a MSc in Health Economics, a BSc in Neuroscience and specialist experience in developing and critiquing decision models to help inform decisions to tackle real world problems.