Dr Darren C Greenwood

Profile

Having initially studied mathematics at the University of Southampton, I moved to Leicester to specialise in medical statistics. After gaining my MSc, I worked in Nottingham with cardiovascular trial data, running a study of knee injury and osteoarthritis, and statistical lead a randomised controlled trial of grommets for children with glue ear. In 1996 I took the position of Lecturer in Medical Statistics at the University of Leeds, and headed up the University's fledgling medical statistics group in the School of Medicine. 

I gained my PhD somewhat late in life, on the topic of statistical analysis of measurement error in epidemiological exposures, and took the position of Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics in 2007.

Since then, I have developed and applied statistical methods to a range of clinical areas, including cardiometabolic outcomes, nutritional and perinatal epidemiology, and more recently Long COVID. I have designed and had been statistical lead on a number of randomized controlled trials of complex interventions, including cluster randomized trials of diet and obesity. I have contributed statistical expertise to a number of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials and of observational studies and am expert statistical advisor to the World Cancer Research Fund Continuous Update Project. My recent work has involved the application of methods to "big data" in obesity and nutrition, and “intensive longitudinal data” in Long COVID.

I have sat on the Editorial Board for a number of journals including British Journal of Nutrition, BMC Medicine and the International Journal of Obesity. I am a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), providing independent scientific advice on nutrition and related health matters to Public Health England and other UK government organisations. I also contribute to a number of SACN working groups, including joint work with Diabetes UK, maternal health, and methods development, and the UK Nutrition and Health Claims Committee (UKNHCC), providing scientific advice to the UK government on the substantiation of scientific evidence underpinning nutrition and health claims. I am currently the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Nutritional Epidemiology.

Responsibilities

• Director, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Nutritional Epidemiology
• Deputy Programme Lead, MSc in Health Data Analytics

Research interests

My research interests include the development and application of statistical methods for advancing epidemiological research. I specialise in hierarchical modelling with a focus on perinatal & nutrition epidemiology & on meta-analysis. I also have expertise in design and analysis of cluster randomized trials and of individual participant data meta-analysis, which pose similar challenges. More recently, I have also applied these methods to complex phenotype data in people living with Long COVID.

Qualifications

• PhD Biostatistics and epidemiology
• MSc Medical statistics
• BSc Mathematics
• PGCert Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Student education

I currently teach undergraduate medics on the MBChB, postgraduates on the MSc in Health Research, and supervise seven PhD students across three Faculties.

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine
• Clinical and Population Science
• Populations