Meet the Team

Rebecca Reynolds studied medicine at Oxford and was awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh in 2002. Her main research interest is in the early life origins of health and disease. Rebecca’s clinical work includes general diabetes and endocrinology and specialist clinics in reproductive endocrinology and obesity and diabetes in pregnancy. She set up the NHS Lothian Antenatal Metabolic Clinic in 2008 with obstetric colleagues. Rebecca is Deputy Head of the Centre for Cardiovascular Science and Dean International for the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine. She is also endocrinology and diabetes lead for Undergraduate Medicine.

Marisa is a research coordinator of academic projects and the project manager for the Born in Scotland and Data Trusts studies. Marisa’s research background is in biological sciences, with a BSc (Hons) and PhD in Experimental Bacterial Evolution from the University of Edinburgh, and an MRes from the University of St Andrews. Her role involves cross-disciplinary collaborations and she has experience in research funding and in developing and delivering public engagement activities. 

Shona is a research midwife at the University of Edinburgh. Shona initially worked in clinical research prior to pursuing a career in midwifery graduating from the University of the West of Scotland before working in Greater Glasgow & Clyde. She is currently the lead midwife for the Edinburgh Reproductive Tissue Biobank (ERTBB).

Jayne is the senior technician for the Edinburgh Reproductive Tissue BioBank (ERTBB), for which she has overall responsibility for day-to-day management. Previously, she worked as a biomedical scientist in the Biochemistry Department within the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. She manages the everyday logistics of the BioBank, from approving applications to use tissue samples for research, to the collection, storage and distribution of the samples - while maintaining all relevant documentation and data. She is also the lead technician on the Born in Scotland project.

Em is a research midwife at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Before working in research she was both a labour ward and community midwife. She graduated from Oxford Brookes University, with her MSc (Hons) dissertation research focusing on parental mode of birth decision-making surrounding term breech birth. 

Indira is a research midwife at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Prior to joining the research team, Indira worked in community, and before that was a midwife on labour ward, antenatal and postnatal wards in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. She is passionate about improving maternity care. 

Sarah is a research midwife at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Prior to this, she was a continuity of care midwife in Fife. She has also worked in the Midwife Led Unit, Observation and Antenatal and Postnatal Wards at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. 

Rosie is a Research Midwife at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Prior to this role she worked briefly on the labour ward at the same hospital, she recently moved to Edinburgh from London where she worked in a team specialising in gestational diabetes.

Wendy works to recruit to, and assist with the running of, research studies within the wider Edinburgh Pregnancy Research Team. Prior to this role, she worked as a clinical nurse in Hong Kong.

Sophie graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh and is a trainee in obstetrics and gynaecology in south east Scotland. She is investigating the use of a prediction model as a decision support tool in the management of gestational diabetes with the aim of moving towards a more personalised approach to care. Her research is funded by The Novo Nordisk UK Research Foundation and is supervised by Professor Rebecca Reynolds and Dr Rosie Townsend.

Irfa is a PhD researcher under the supervision of Professor Rebecca Reynolds, based at the Queen’s Medical Research Institute. She is a qualified dietitian and a post-graduate in Human Nutrition and Dietetics in 2018. Her current research aims to optimize dietary interventions for women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus in Scotland, to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. She is particularly focusing on the health of South Asian women pre- or post-pregnancy using DASH-based dietary guidelines. Her previous research focused on the management of dyslipidaemia using plant-based ingredients on animal models.

Kathryn graduated from Oxford and has undertaken specialty training in obstetrics and gynaecology in Bristol. She is investigating the role of vascular dysfunction in pregnancy complications including pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction and stillbirth. Her research is funded through a BHF clinical research fellowship, and she is supervised by Professor Rebecca Reynolds.

Jazz is a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Rebecca Reynolds. Her research is focused on data-driven approaches to gestational diabetes. This involves the design and development of personalised digital mHealth tools, alongside, investigating and creating machine-learning models to predict pharmacological intervention of women with gestational diabetes. 

Carlos is a postdoctoral researcher focusing on data science working with the MIREDA Partnership to interrogate health records and clinical data collected through the Born in Scotland project and harmonise pregnancy and neonatal information with other UK birth cohorts. Previously, he investigated the link between early life outcomes and adult cardiometabolic disease using the Walker cohort from Dundee, as part of his PhD project.

Sarah qualified from Edinburgh University in 2008 and has undertaken her specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Edinburgh, completing a Wellcome Trust funded PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2020. Sarah Also completed a Masters in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine through her PhD fellowship and the focus of her current research is on the use of routinely collected maternity data to study the relationship between gestation at delivery and perinatal outcomes.

Niamh is currently researching the optimisation of care for women with gestational diabetes.

Sarah is a consultant obstetrician and subspecialist in maternal and fetal medicine at the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh. The focus of her research and clinical work is to improve care for women and babies at risk of being born too small or too soon. An aim is to improve detection and treatment of problems that cause preterm birth or growth restriction and stillbirth, and develop strategies that improve health of babies and children. She went to Manchester University Medical School, and has a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. Her specialist and subspecialist clinical training was undertaken in Edinburgh, with periods in Glasgow, London and Australia.

Rosie is a consultant obstetrician within NHS Lothian and subspecialist in fetal medicine. She is a senior clinical research fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focus is understanding how preterm birth and still birth can be predicted and possibly prevented.