Dr Clare P Herd PhD

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Research Fellow

Contact details

Email: c.p.herd@bham.ac.uk

Address: Public Health Building
College of Medicine and Health
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Clare is a systematic reviewer working currently in the field of diagnostic test evaluation methods. She has previous experience in systematic reviews of interventions in various clinical fields as well as some information specialist work for the James Lind Alliance.

Qualifications

PhD 2010
MChem 2005

Biography

Clare’s background is in chemistry, and she completed her undergraduate degree in 2005, followed by a PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Leeds under the supervision of Dr Julie Fisher. Her doctoral research focused on the non‑duplex folding states of the telomeric region of human DNA.

She has worked as a systematic reviewer for the past fourteen years. Prior to her current focus, Clare spent a decade (2011–2021) at University of Birmingham conducting systematic reviews of the effectiveness of interventions across a broad range of clinical areas, most notably Parkinson’s disease, migraine, and atrial fibrillation, including authorship of several Cochrane reviews.

As a freelance information specialist and systematic reviewer, she has contributed to projects including reviews of HIV and heart disease treatments, acted as an information specialist for national research priority partnerships, and collaborated with the Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization on rapid reviews.

She is currently specialising in diagnostic and prognostic test evaluation methods. Her work involves conducting systematic literature searches to identify evidence used to assess existing methodologies and to develop robust frameworks for test evaluation.

Teaching

Lecturing and facilitating on the Systematic review and evidence synthesis module of the MPH course
Lecturing and facilitating on the STMA DTA CPD course
MBChB Year 1 DPS AAAA Systematic Reviews small group teaching

Research

Research Themes

Diagnostic Test Evaluation Methods, Systematic Reviews, Quality Appraisal Methodologies, Evidence Synthesis, Research Priority Setting Partnerships

Research Activity

Diagnostic Test Evaluation & Guidance: Clare is currently Co-Project Manager on GUIDE-EDT, an NIHR-commissioned project developing comprehensive evaluation guidance for diagnostic medical tests.

Evidence Synthesis & Methodological Quality: Clare co-leads research investigating how judgements of applicability are made in systematic reviews of diagnostic and prognostic tests and prediction models using quality appraisal tools. She also collaborates on a Medical Research Council (MRC) test evaluation methodology project looking at optimal study designs and outcomes.

Research Priority Setting: Clare is an Information specialist and lead systematic reviewer for James Lind Alliance (JLA) Priority Setting Partnerships, establishing national research priorities alongside patients and clinicians in areas including Thoracic Surgery, Congenital Heart Disease, and Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension.

Clinical Evidence Syntheses: Clare has extensive experience leading and co-authoring Cochrane and non-Cochrane systematic reviews and meta-analyses across neurology, cardiovascular disease, public health interventions, COVID-19 transmission strategies, and oncology care.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Drury, NE, Herd, CP, Biglino, G, Brown, KL, Coats, L, Cumper, MJ, Guerrero, RR, Miskin, A, Murray, S, Pender, F, Rooprai, S, Simpson, JM, Thomson, JDR, Weinkauf, J, Wootton, J, Jones, TJ & Cowan, K 2022, 'Research priorities in children and adults with congenital heart disease: a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership', Open Heart, vol. 9, no. 2, e002147. https://doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2022-002147

Singhal, J, Herd, C, Adab, P & Pallan, M 2020, 'Effectiveness of school-based interventions to prevent obesity among children aged 4 to 12 years old in middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis', Obesity Reviews, vol. 22, no. 1, e13105. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13105

Dretzke, J, Chuchu, N, Agarwal, R, Herd, C, Chua, WWL, Fabritz, L, Bayliss, S, Kotecha, D, Deeks, J, Kirchhof, P & Takwoingi, Y 2020, 'Predicting recurrent atrial fibrillation after catheter ablation: a systematic review of prognostic models', Europace, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 748–760. https://doi.org/10.1093/europace/euaa041

Herd, C, Tomlinson, C, Rick, C, Scotton, W, Edwards, J, Ives, N, Clarke, CE & Sinclair, A 2019, 'Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis of Botulinum toxin for the prevention of migraine', BMJ Open, vol. 9, no. 7, e027953. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027953

Mollan, S, Hemmings, K, Herd, C, Denton, A, Williamson, M & Sinclair, A 2019, 'What are the research priorities for idiopathic intracranial hypertension? A priority setting partnership between patients and healthcare professionals', BMJ Open, vol. 9, no. 3, e026573. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026573

Herd, C, Cl, T, Rick, C, Scotton, W, Edwards, J, Ives, N, Clarke, CE & Sinclair, A 2018, 'Botulinum toxins for the prevention of migraine in adults', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 6, CD011616. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011616.pub2

Muzerengi, S, Herd, C, Rick, C & Clarke, CE 2016, 'A systematic review of interventions to reduce hospitalisation in Parkinson's disease', Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.parkreldis.2016.01.011

Palin, O, Herd, C, Morrison, K, Jagielski, AC, Wheatley, K, Thomas, GN & Clarke, CE 2015, 'Systematic review and meta-analysis of hydrocarbon exposure and the risk of Parkinson's disease', Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.parkreldis.2014.12.017

Tomlinson, CL, Herd, CP, Clarke, C, Meek, C, Patel, S, Stowe, R, Deane, KHO, Shah, L, Sackley, CM, Wheatley, K & Ives, N 2014, 'Physiotherapy for Parkinson's disease: a comparison of techniques', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 6, CD002815. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002815.pub2

Tomlinson, CL, Patel, S, Meek, C, Herd, CP, Clarke, CE, Stowe, R, Shah, L, Sackley, CM, Deane, KH, Wheatley, K & Ives, N 2013, 'Physiotherapy versus placebo or no intervention in Parkinson's disease', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 9, CD002817. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002817.pub4

Herd, CP, Tomlinson, CL, Deane, KHO, Brady, MC, Smith, CH, Sackley, CM & Clarke, CE 2012, 'Comparison of speech and language therapy techniques for speech problems in Parkinson's disease', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 8, pp. CD002814. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002814.pub2

Chapter

Herd, C, Rick, C, Shah, L, Champaneria, R, Ives, N & Clarke, CE 2014, Update of the Cochrane systematic review of dopamine agonist therapy in early Parkinson’s disease. in Dopamine agonists – review – EML 20th Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines. World Health Organization, Website, pp. Annex A.

Review article

PETNECK2 Research Team, Dretzke, J, Lorenc, A, Adriano, A, Herd, C, Mehanna, H, Nankivell, P & Moore, DJ 2023, 'Systematic review of patients’ and healthcare professionals’ views on patient‐initiated follow‐up in treated cancer patients', Cancer Medicine, vol. 12, no. 15, pp. 16531-16547. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.6243

Deeks, J, Dinnes, J, Takwoingi, Y, Davenport, C, Spijker, R, Taylor-Phillips, S, Adriano, A, Beese, S, Dretzke, J, Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Harris, I, Price, M, Dittrich, S, Emperador, D, Hooft, L, Leeflang, MMG, Van De Bruel, A, McInnes, MDF, Stuyf, T, Domen, J, Horn, S, Yang, B, Langendam, M, Ochodo, E, Guleid, F, Holtman, G, Verbakel, J, Stegeman, I, Salameh , JP, McGrath , TA, van der Pol , CB, Frank , RA, Prager , R, Hare , SS, Dennie , C, Jenniskens, K, Korevaar , DA, Cohen , JF, van de Wijgert, J, Damen , JAAG, Agarwal, R, Baldwin, S, Berhane, S, Herd, C, Kristunas, C, Quinn, L & Scholefield, B 2020, 'Antibody tests for identification of current and past infection with SARS-CoV-2', Cochrane Library, vol. 2020, no. 6, CD013652. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD013652

Herd, CP, Tomlinson, CL, Rick, C, Scotton, WJ, Edwards, J, Ives, N, Clarke, CE & Sinclair, A 2018, 'Botulinum toxins for the prevention of migraine in adults', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 6, CD011616. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011616.pub2

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