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

Dr Alice Sitch

Institute of Applied Health Research
Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 4428
Email
a.j.sitch@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@alicesitch
View my research portal
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

NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery & Glasbey, J 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

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 2023, 'Developing and validating a multivariable prognostic-predictive classifier for treatment escalation of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: the PREDICTR-OPC study', Clinical Cancer Research. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-23-1013

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/>

Wood, G, Goodyear, V, Adab, P, Al-Janabi, H, Fenton, S, Jones, K, Michail, M, Morrison, B, Patterson, P, Sitch, A, Wade, M & Pallan, M 2023, 'Smartphones, social Media and Adolescent mental well-being: the impact of school policies Restricting dayTime use-protocol for a natural experimental observational study using mixed methods at secondary schools in England (SMART Schools Study)', BMJ open, vol. 13, no. 7, e075832. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075832

Harris, IM, Greenfield, S, Ward, DJ, Sitch, AJ & Parry, J 2023, 'The Clinical Teaching Fellow role: views of the Heads of Academy in the West Midlands', BMC Medical Education, vol. 23, no. 1, 242. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04219-y

Gough, A, Sitch, A, Ferris, E & Marshall, T 2023, 'Within-subject variation of HbA1c: A systematic review and meta-analysis', PLoS ONE, vol. 18, no. 8, e0289085. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289085

Ogunlayi, F, Chauhan-Lall, N, Hughes, D, Myers, P & Sitch, A 2022, 'A cross-sectional study examining the equitability of invitation, uptake and coverage for NHS Health Check', Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdac064

Nash, E, Choyce, J, Carrolan, V, Justice, E, Shaw, K, Sitch, A, MIstry, H & Whitehouse, J 2022, 'A prospective randomised controlled mixed-methods pilot study of home monitoring in adults with cystic fibrosis', Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease, vol. 16, pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/17534666211070133

Martins, SM, Dickens, A, Salibe-Filho , W, Albuquerque Neto , AA, Adab, P, Enocson, A, Cooper, BG, Sousa, LVA, Sitch, A, Jowett, S, Adams, R, Cheng, KK, Chi, C, Correia-de-Sousa, J, Farley, A, Gale, N, Jolly, K, Maglakelidze, M, Maghlakelidze, T, Stavrikj, K, Turner, A, Williams, S, Jordan, R & Stelmach, R 2022, 'Accuracy and economic evaluation of different screening tests and their combinations for undiagnosed COPD among people with hypertension in Brazil', NPJ Primary Care Respiratory Medicine, vol. 32, 55 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41533-022-00303-w

Kulkarni, S, Parry, J & Sitch, A 2022, 'An assessment of the impact of formal preparation activities on performance in the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT): a national study', BMC Medical Education, vol. 22, no. 1, 747. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03811-y

Prete, A, Subramanian, A, Bancos, I, Chortis, V, Tsagarakis, S, Lang, K, Macech, M, Delivanis, D, Pupovac, I, Reimondo, G, Marina, L, Deutschbein, T, Balomenaki, M, O'reilly, M, Gilligan, L, Jenkinson, C, Bednarczuk, T, Zhang, C, Dusek, T, Diamantopoulos, A, Asia, M, Kondracka, A, Li, D, Masjkur, J, Quinkler, M, Ueland, G, Dennedy, C, Beuschlein, F, Tabarin, A, Fassnacht, M, Ivovic, M, Terzolo, M, Kastelan, D, Young Jr, W, Manolopoulos, K, Ambroziak, U, Vassiliadi, D, Taylor, A, Sitch, A, Nirantharakumar, K & Arlt, W 2022, 'Cardiometabolic disease burden and steroid excretion in benign adrenal tumors: a cross-sectional multicenter study', Annals of internal medicine, vol. 175, no. 3, pp. 325-334. https://doi.org/10.7326/M21-1737

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

View all publications in research portal