Dr Alice Sitch PhD, MSc, BSc (Hons), PCAP, CStat, FHEA

Dr Alice Sitch

Institute of Applied Health Research
Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics

Contact details

Address
Public Health Building
Institute of Applied Health Research
College of Medical and Dental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Alice Sitch is a Senior Lecturer working in the Institute of Applied Health Research and a member of the Biostatistics, Evidence Synthesis and Test Evaluation (BESaTE) research group.

Since joining the University in 2009, Alice has become involved in many exciting projects allowing her to collaborate with others in the BESaTE team and many other researchers at the University of Birmingham and beyond.

Alice’s main research interests are in the area of designing and evaluating monitoring tests and studies of biological variability. Alice is the deputy lead for the cross-cutting diagnostics and biomarkers theme of the Birmingham NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Medical Statistics, University of Birmingham, 2019
  • Post-graduate certificate in Academic Practice, University of Birmingham, 2017
  • MSc in Statistics, University of Sheffield, 2009
  • BSc (Hons) in Mathematics, University of Sheffield, 2008
  • Royal Statistical Society Chartered Statistician
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy

Biography

Alice began working with the Biostatistics and Test Evaluation Research Group (TERG) within the Institute of Applied Health Research (IAHR) at the University of Birmingham as a Research Fellow in October 2009 and later became a Lecturer and then an Associate Professor.  

Alice's work is diverse, covering methodological problems, test research and a variety of public health issues.  The focus of her research is test evaluation, specifically the use of tests to monitor progressive and recurrent disease and studies of biological variability. Alice is the deputy theme lead for the Diagnostics and Biomarkers theme of the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

Alice is the joint Head of Education for IAHR and biostatistics team teaching lead. She is involved with teaching and delivering programmes to both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Test evaluation, specifically the estimation of test variability and the appropriate use of tests for monitoring.

Research

The focus of Alice’s research is the use of repeated testing to monitor disease progression or recurrence and the use of biological variability studies to provide evidence to guide the use of monitoring tests.

Her work in the area of monitoring stems from her involvement in the methodology work stream of the NIHR programme grant Evaluating the benefits for patients and the NHS of new and existing biological fluid biomarkers in liver and renal disease. Alice is also involved in a primary study (eGFR-C) looking at estimation using creatinine and cystatin C for monitoring disease progression in patients with stage 3 chronic kidney disease; and a study funded by the Scar Free Foundation evaluating the variability of tests measuring scarring. Alice supervises PhD Students conducting research in related areas, particularly through her work with the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

In other test evaluation work, Alice was the study statistician for the NIHR HTA study Prognostic Value of Interferon Gamma Release Assays in predicting active tuberculosis among individuals with, or at risk of, latent tuberculosis infection (PREDICT); the EURINE-ACT study which was a large prospective test evaluation study in adrenal carcinoma; the Wellcome Trust Innovation Challenge Fund supported study Real-time Adaptive Predictive Indicator of Deterioration (RAPID) which used Formula One technology to monitor children in intensive care in real time; and, two NIHR Research for Patient Benefit funded pilot studies that investigated home monitoring of cystic fibrosis and an alert system for the early detection of acute kidney injury. 

Through collaboration with other academics and clinicians, Alice has been part of many research projects.  These include the NIHR global project in COPD Breathe Well, the NIHR Programme Grant Birmingham Lung Improvement StudieS, and NIHR PHR funded projects ABA and FUEL.

Alice is a West Midlands NIHR Research for Patient Benefit funding panel member. Alice is an associate editor for the Journals Trials and the European Journal of Endocrinology.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Patel, K, Pye, A, Edgar, R, Beadle, H, Ellis, P, Sitch, A, Dickens, A & Turner, A 2024, 'Cluster randomised controlled trial of specialist led integrated COPD care (INTEGR COPD)', Thorax. https://doi.org/10.1136/thorax-2023-220435

Mehanna, H, Rapozo, D, Zeidler, SVV, Harrington, K, Winter, S, Hartley, A, Nankivell, P, Schache, A, Sloan, P, Odell, E, Thavaraj, S, Hunter, K, Shah, K, Thomas, G, Long, A, Amel-Kashipaz, R, Brown, R, Conn, B, Hall, G, Matthews, P, Weir, J, Yeo, Y, Pring, M, West, C, McCaul, J, Golusinski, P, Sitch, A, Spruce, R, Batis, N, Bryant, J, Brooks, J, Jones, TM, Buffa, F, Haider, S & Robinson, M 2024, 'Developing and validating a multivariable prognostic-predictive classifier for treatment escalation of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: the PREDICTR-OPC study', Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 356–367. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-23-1013

Brettschneider, J, Morrison, B, Jenkinson, D, Freeman, K, Walton, J, Sitch, A, Hudson, S, Kearins, O, Mansbridge, A, Pinder, SE, Given-Wilson, R, Wilkinson, L, Wallis, MG, Cheung, S & Taylor-Phillips, S 2024, 'Development and quality appraisal of a new English breast screening linked data set as part of the age, test threshold, and frequency of mammography screening (ATHENA-M) study', British Journal of Radiology. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjr/tqad023

Williams, FR, Quinlan, J, Freer, A, Morrison, B, Sitch, A, Hockey, F, Klas, N, Towey, J, Perera, TPR, Rajoriya, N, Lord, JM & Armstrong, MJ 2024, 'Duke Activity Status Index and Liver Frailty Index predict mortality in ambulatory patients with advanced chronic liver disease: A prospective, observational study', Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 547-557. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.17834

Fernandes, G, Williams, S, Adab, P, Gale, N, de Jong, C, Correia-de-Sousa, J, Cheng, KK, Chi, C, Cooper, BG, Dickens, AP, Enocson, A, Farley, A, Jolly, K, Jowett, S, Maglakelidze, M, Maghlakelidze, T, Martins, S, Sitch, A, Stamenova, A, Stavrikj, K, Stelmach, R, Turner, A, Pan, Z, Pang, H, Zhang, J & Jordan, RE 2024, 'Engaging stakeholders to level up COPD care in LMICs: lessons learned from the "Breathe Well" programme in Brazil, China, Georgia, and North Macedonia', BMC Health Services Research, vol. 24, no. 1, 66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10525-4

Davies, J, Ignatowicz, A, Sitch, A, Belli, T, Whitaker, J, Ghalichi, L & Equi-Injury Group 2024, 'Equitable access to quality injury care; Equi-Injury project protocol for prioritizing interventions in four Low- or Middle-Income Countries: a mixed method study', BMC Health Services Research. <https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/>

Harris, I, McNeilly, H, Ward, D, Sitch, A, Parry, J & Greenfield, S 2024, 'The Clinical Teaching Fellow role: exploring expectations and experiences', BMC Medical Education, vol. 24, 213. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05207-6

Miller, H, Harman, D, Aithal, GP, Manousou, P, Cobbold, JF, Parker, R, Sheridan, D, Newsome, PN, Karpe, F, Neville, M, Arlt, W, Sitch, AJ, Korbonits, M, Biehl, M, Alazawi, W & Tomlinson, JW 2024, 'Translating the potential of the urine steroid metabolome to stage NAFLD (TrUSt-NAFLD): study protocol for a multicentre, prospective validation study', BMJ open, vol. 14, no. 1, e074918. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-074918

Prete, A, Lang, K, Pavlov, D, Rhayem, Y, Sitch, AJ, Franke, AS, Gilligan, LC, Shackleton, CHL, Hahner, S, Quinkler, M, Dekkers, T, Deinum, J, Reincke, M, Beuschlein, F, Biehl, M & Arlt, W 2024, 'Urine steroid metabolomics as a diagnostic tool in primary aldosteronism', The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, vol. 237, 106445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsbmb.2023.106445

NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery, Glasbey, J & Li, E 2023, 'Adaptation of the Wound Healing Questionnaire universal-reporter outcome measure for use in global surgery trials (TALON-1 study): mixed-methods study and Rasch analysis', British Journal of Surgery, vol. 110, no. 6, pp. 685–700. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjs/znad058

Schiffer, L, Kempegowda, P, Sitch, AJ, Adaway, JE, Shaheen, F, Ebbehoj, A, Singh, S, Mctaggart, MP, O’reilly, MW, Prete, A, Hawley, JM, Keevil, BG, Bancos, I, Taylor, AE & Arlt, W 2023, 'Classic and 11-oxygenated androgens in serum and saliva across adulthood: a cross-sectional study analyzing the impact of age, body mass index, and diurnal and menstrual cycle variation', European Journal of Endocrinology, vol. 188, no. 1, lvac017. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejendo/lvac017

Clarke, J, Dombrowski, SU, Gkini, E, Hoddinott, P, Ingram, J, MacArthur, C, Moss, N, Ocansey, L, Roberts, T, Thomson, G, Sanders, J, Sitch, AJ, Stubbs, C, Taylor, B, Tearne, S, Woolley, R & Jolly, K 2023, 'Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Assets-based feeding help Before and After birth (ABA-feed) for improving breastfeeding initiation and continuation: protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial (Version 3.0)', BMJ open, vol. 13, no. 11, e075460. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075460

Gjorgjievski, D, Stavrikj, K, Jordan, R, Adab, P, Stanoevski, G, Stamenova, A, Krstevska, E, Simonovska, S, Trpcheski, F, Adams, R, Easter, C, Rai, K, Cheng, KK, Chi, C, Cooper, BG, Correia-de-Sousa, J, Dickens, AP, Enocson, A, Gale, N, Jolly, K, Jowett, S, Maglakelidze, M, Maghlakelidze, T, Martins, S, Sitch, A, Stelmach, R, Turner, A, Williams, S & Farley, A 2023, 'Randomised controlled trial testing effectiveness of feedback about lung age or exhaled CO combined with very brief advice for smoking cessation compared to very brief advice alone in North Macedonia: findings from the Breathe Well group', BMC Public Health, vol. 23, no. 1, 1887. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16644-1

Pallan, M, Murphy, M, Morrison, B, Pokhilenko, I, Sitch, A, Frew, E, Rawdin, C, Adams, R, Adamson, A, Bartington, S, Dobell, A, Duff, R, Griffin, T, Hurley, K, Lancashire, E, McLeman, L, Passmore, S, Ravaghi, V, Spence, S & Adab, P 2023, 'School food policy in secondary schools in England and its impact on adolescents’ diets and dental health: the FUEL multiple-methods study', NIHR Journals Library. <https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/>

Review article

Quinn, L, Tryposkiadis, K, Deeks, J, Vet, HCWD, Mallett, S, Mokkink, LB, Takwoingi, Y, Taylor-Phillips, S & Sitch, A 2023, 'Interobserver variability studies in diagnostic imaging: a methodological systematic review', The British Journal of Radiology, vol. 96, no. 1148, 20220972. https://doi.org/10.1259/bjr.20220972

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