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.

Sarah is a research midwife at the University 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 University 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.

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.

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 research fellow 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.

Eilidh graduated from Edinburgh and has undertaken specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in South-East Scotland. She is investigating the link between complications in pregnancy, such as preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction, and long-term maternal cardiovascular disease with a focus on prognostic risk modelling.  Her research is funded through a BHF clinical research fellowship, and she is supervised by Professor Rebecca Reynolds and Dr Rosie Townsend.

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.

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.

Marylene's research work explores how reproductive careers modify the risk of multimorbidity among women in Sub-Saharan Africa. She holds a Master of Public Health degree in Biostatistics & Environmental and Occupational Health from Emory University, USA and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lawrence University, USA. She has over 15 years’ experience working in demographic, health and poverty dynamics research in Africa, with a combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional data auditing and analytical skills and her research interest is in longitudinal socio-economic and health outcomes among women in SSA.

Caroline is a consultant obstetrician, who graduated in medicine from the University of Oxford, and subsequently completed her PhD at King's College London. She trained in obstetrics and gynaecology in Wales and London. Caroline's research focuses on metabolic disorders in pregnancy, particularly understanding how maternal cholestasis, diabetes and hepatic steatosis affect pregnancy outcomes. She has particular interests in the mechanisms behind these diseases, using this understanding to trial new medications and monitoring interventions to improve pregnancy health. 

Kahyee graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2011 and started her specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the West of Scotland. She was awarded an Edinburgh Clinical Academic Track (ECAT) Clinical Lectureship in 2016 and subsequently transferred her O&G training to South-East Scotland. She completed a 3-year Wellcome Trust-funded PhD where she utilised a murine diet-induced obesity and mixed species cell co-culture model to investigate the impact of maternal obesity and diabetes on offspring neurodevelopment. Her academic focus is on high-risk pregnancies associated with placental dysfunction including fetal growth restriction and pre-eclampsia, and its effects on long-term offspring health, using novel imaging and discovery science techniques.