Professor Yemisi Takwoingi PhD

Yemisi Takwoingi

Institute of Applied Health Research
Professor of Test Evaluation and Evidence Synthesis
Deputy Director, Institute of Applied Health Research

Contact details

Address
Public Health Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor Yemisi Takwoingi is based in the Test Evaluation Research Group within the Institute of Applied Health Research.  

Yemisi collaborates on methodological and applied health research projects. Her research interest is primarily in diagnostic test evaluation and systematic review methodology, especially meta-analyses of diagnostic test accuracy studies. 

Yemisi has several scientific and advisory roles, one of which is as a co-convenor of the Cochrane Screening and Diagnostic Test Methods Group. She also has editorial roles within Cochrane and for journals.

Qualifications

  • PhD Biostatistics, University of Birmingham, 2016
  • Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, 2012
  • MSc Medical Statistics (Distinction), University of Leicester, 2007
  • MSc Information Technology (Distinction), University of Paisley, 2001
  • Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), University of Maiduguri, 1994

Biography

Yemisi Takwoingi’s background is in veterinary medicine, computer/statistical programming and statistics. She qualified in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria in 1994. She later completed an MSc in Information Technology with distinction at the University of Paisley (2001), an MSc in Medical Statistics with distinction at the University of Leicester (2007), and a PhD at the University of Birmingham (2016).

Yemisi joined the University of Birmingham in March 2001 as an analyst programmer in the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU).  In 2008, she moved to the Test Evaluation Research Group located within the Institute of Applied Health Research, to provide statistical support for Cochrane diagnostic test accuracy reviews and other applied health projects related to the evaluation of medical tests.

In 2011 she was awarded an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship which enabled her to undertake a PhD in meta-analytic methods for summarising and comparing the accuracy of two or more tests. Following completion of her doctoral research, Yemisi was awarded an NIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship to extend her research on methods for comparative accuracy meta-analysis to ensure test accuracy evidence is fit for clinical and policy decision making.

In addition to methods research, Yemisi is involved in several applied health research projects. She is the statistical lead or senior statistician on various national and international collaborations undertaking systematic reviews and primary studies of tests in a variety of healthcare topics funded by the NIHR and other funders.

Yemisi enjoys teaching. She leads the medical statistics module in the School of Mathematics and also participates in teaching undergraduate pharmacy students and Master’s level Public Health students. She is also course organiser for a 3-day course on systematic reviews and meta-analyses of diagnostic accuracy and delivers other courses nationally and internationally. 

Teaching

Continuing Professional Development:

  • Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of diagnostic test accuracy

Postgraduate supervision

Yemisi is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

  • Methodology for the evaluation of medical tests
  • Methodology for systematic reviews and meta-analyses
  • Primary studies and systematic reviews of tests
If you are interested in doctoral research in or related to these areas, please contact Yemisi using the contact details above.

Research

Yemisi’s main research interest is in systematic review methods, and the design and conduct of primary studies of medical tests. Since 2008 she has worked mainly on methodology for systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies. This includes projects related to the validity of methods for meta-analysis when few studies are available, and the validity of indirect comparisons of tests. This inspired her to undertake a PhD investigating how diagnostic tests should be compared in a meta-analysis. 

She is also interested in factors that inform a systematic review updating and prioritisation strategy. Her research has contributed to a change in the updating policy of the Cochrane Collaboration. She was a member of an international panel of editors, funders, guideline developers, review authors, clinicians and methodologists, convened by Cochrane to develop guidance on updating.

Yemisi is keen to improve access to complex analytical methods for test evaluations to facilitate their use by non-technical users. As such, she has developed user-friendly software programs and tutorials, including MetaDAS, a SAS software macro, and a Stata tutorial; both are widely used for meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy. She has also written statistical algorithms that have been added into RevMan, the Cochrane Collaboration’s review authoring software.

Research groups and Centres:

Other activities

Scientific and Advisory Committees:

  • Co-convenor, Cochrane Screening and Diagnostic Test Methods Group
  • Member, PRISMA-DTA Advisory Board
  • Member, QUADAS-2C Steering Group 
  • Independent Chair/Member of study oversight committees 
  • Member, STARD (Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy) 2014 Group
  • Member, Panel for Updating Guidance for Systematic Reviews (2014)

Editorial Positions:

  • Editor, Cochrane Infectious Diseases Review Group
  • Statistical Editor, Cochrane Bone, Muscle, Joint and Trauma Review Group
  • Editorial Board Member, Diagnostic and Prognostic Research
  • Statistical Advisory Board Member, PLOS ONE

Publications

Book Chapters:

  1. Thomas J, Askie LM, Berlin JA, Elliott JH, Ghersi D, Simmonds M, Takwoingi Y, Tierney JF, Higgins HPT. Chapter 22: Prospective approaches to accumulating evidence. In: Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.0 (updated July 2019). Cochrane, 2019. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook

  2. Quinn T, Takwoingi Y. Assessment of the utility of cognitive screening instruments. In: Larner AJ (editor), Cognitive Screening Instruments: A Practical Approach (2nd Edition). Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2017.

  3. Macaskill P, Gatsonis C, Deeks JJ, Harbord RM, Takwoingi Y (2010). Chapter 10: Analysing and Presenting Results. In: Deeks JJ, Bossuyt PM, Gatsonis C (editors), Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Diagnostic Test Accuracy Version 1.0. The Cochrane Collaboration. Available from: http://methods.cochrane.org/sdt/ 

See https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5828-9746 for list of peer reviewed publications.  

View all publications in research portal