Accepting PhD Students

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    Calculated based on number of publications stored in Pure and citations from Scopus
    20022024

    Research activity per year

    Personal profile

    Biography

    Professor Petra Wark leads the Research Methods and Evaluation Unit (RMEU), which specialises in health and community wellbeing research and is based in the Centre for Healthcare and Communities.

    Her expertise encompasses nutritional and chronic disease epidemiology, digital health, health services research, and applied statistics. Petra is committed to employing valid, accurate, ethical, efficient, and feasible data collection and analytical methods to address critical research questions. Her research aims to enhance well-being and manage disease through the development and validation of health technologies, risk factors, and outcome measures. She evaluates the efficacy and effectiveness of health interventions and technologies in practical settings, thereby considering their applications in research, health promotion, and healthcare.

    She has led several multidisciplinary projects, such as validating an online 24-hour dietary assessment tool, and developing and evaluating platforms for disease or lifestyle management. Her work has secured significant funding from organizations such as the MRC, Innovate UK, and EIT Digital. She is a member of NIHR's Integrated Clinical and Practitioner Academic Programme Advanced Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (ACAF) Fellowship Funding Committee. 

    Earlier in her career, Petra focused on understanding the causation of chronic diseases using data from large cohort studies. She combined this research with her role as an MSc course organizer, running several epidemiology and chronic disease modules, and co-founding and managing a leading short course.

    Petra enjoys working in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teams, learning from other disciplines and cultures to enhance her insights, work, and methods. She values inclusivity, diversity, and teamwork, aiming to make a tangible difference in people's lives.

    Within the Centre for Healthcare and Communities, Petra supervises and examines PhD, MRes, and MSc students and is a UKCGE Recognised Research Supervisor. She also serves as an Ethics Lead.

    Research Interests

    • Interdisciplinary and innovation research projects on health, healthcare, self-management and study conduct
    • Nutritional and chronic disease epidemiology
    • Efficacy and effectiveness of digital, and other new, health technologies in primary and secondary chronic disease prevention; and methodological aspects thereof
    • Validation, evaluation and assessment of diet, lifestyle, wellbeing and health status using new digital technologies (including other aspects of health)
    • Additional insight gained from the additional data that digital health technologies provide, how to make use of the new technologies and embed them in practice

    Vision Statement

    New digital health solutions and technologies emerge daily. Several of these developments are very exciting. They have potential to improve one’s wellbeing or health. Many others are not yet optimal and/or do not meet society’s, the health care system’s or the user’s needs. A technological solution or treatment is also not always the most appropriate.

    It is important to optimise the chances of making a true impact. I believe that technologies should be validated and evaluated throughout their lifecycle, and they should be evidence-based. Sometimes my work starts while the technology is being developed or improved. My work can also start after the technology is being implemented, or when already on the market. Doing so requires insight and methods from several disciplines. I thus collaborate with people from different backgrounds. I also collaborate with industry. 

    Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

    In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

    • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

    Education/Academic qualification

    Postgraduate Certificate, Learning and Teaching, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

    Sept 20108 Jun 2012

    Award Date: 8 Jun 2012

    Doctorate, PhD in nutritional/molecular epidemiology of cancer, Wageningen University and Research Centre

    May 200016 Jan 2007

    Award Date: 16 Jan 2007

    MSc, Biomedical Health Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen

    1 Sept 199527 Apr 2000

    Award Date: 27 Apr 2000

    Applied Statistics and Biostatistics (15 modules, equivalent to 53 weeks at MSc level), Passed 15 modules (equivalent to 53 full-time weeks) at MSc level , University of Hasselt

    1 Oct 200131 Mar 2003

    External positions

    Honorary Senior Lecturer in eHealth, Imperial College London

    1 Jan 2017 → …

    Assistant Director of Global eHealth Unit, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London

    1 Apr 201431 Dec 2016

    Research Fellow, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Imperial College London

    5 Jan 200931 Mar 2014

    Research Fellow, Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

    15 Oct 200531 Dec 2008

    Keywords

    • RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
    • digital health
    • mHealth
    • wellbeing
    • prevention
    • chronic disease
    • validation
    • evaluation
    • diet
    • lifestyle
    • physical activity
    • epidemiology
    • study design
    • data analysis
    • technology
    • apps
    • wearables
    • dietary assessment
    • interdisciplinary
    • transdisciplinary
    • quantitative research
    • applied statistics
    • observational studies
    • Health Services Research
    • health inequality
    • diversity
    • scales

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