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

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

Pang, H, Pan, Z, Adams, R, Duncan, E, Chi, C, Kong, X, Adab, P, Cheng, KK, Cooper, B, Correia-de-Sousa, J, Dickens, A, Enocson, A, Farley, A, Gale, N, Jolly, K, Jowett, S, Maglakelidze, M, Maglakelidze, T, Martins, S, Sitch, A, Stavrikj, K, Stelmach, R, Turner, A, Williams, S & Jordan, R 2022, 'Community lung health service design for COPD patients in China by the Breathe Well group', NPJ Primary Care Respiratory Medicine, vol. 32, 27. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41533-022-00286-8

Pang, H, Pan, Z, Adams, R, Duncan, E, Chi, C, Kong, X, Adab, P, Dickens, A, Gale, N, Cheng, KK, Cooper, B, Correia-de-Sousa, J, Enocson, A, Farley, A, Jolly, K, Jowett, S, Maglakelidze, M, Maglakelidze , T, Martins , S, Sitch, A, Stavrikj, K, Stelmach , R, Turner, A, Williams, S & Jordan, R 2022, 'Exploring the need for, and design of, a community lung health service for COPD patients in China: a mixed method study. Findings from the Breathe Well group', NPJ Primary Care Respiratory Medicine. <http://www.nature.com/npjpcrm/>

Maglakelidze , M, Kurua, I, Maglakelidze, N, Maglakelidze, T, Chkhaidze, I, Gogvadze, K, Chkhaidze, N, Beadle, H, Redden-Rowley, K, Adab, P, Adams, R, Chi, C, Cheng, KK, Cooper, B, Correia-de-Sousa, J, Dickens, A, Enocson, A, Farley, A, Gale, N, Jowett, S, Martins, SM, Rai, K, Sitch, A, Stavrikj, K, Stelmach , R, Turner, A, Williams, S, Jordan, R & Jolly, K 2022, 'Feasibility of a pulmonary rehabilitation programme for patients with symptomatic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Georgia: a single site, randomized controlled trial from the Breathe Well Group', BMJ open, vol. 12, e056902. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056902

Liu, X, Kale, A, Ometto, G, Montesano, G, Sitch, A, Capewell, N, Radovanovic, C, Bucknall, N, Beare, N, Moore, D, Keane, P, Crabb, DP & Denniston, A 2022, 'OCT assisted quantification of vitreous inflammation in uveitis', Translational Vision Science & Technology, vol. 11, no. 1, 3. https://doi.org/10.1167/tvst.11.1.3

Lippert, J, Altieri, B, Morrison, B, Steinhauer, S, Smith, G, Lorey, A, Urlaub, H, Kircher, S, Sitch, A, Fassnacht, M & Ronchi, CL 2022, 'Prognostic role of targeted methylation analysis in paraffin-embedded samples of adrenocortical carcinoma', Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, pp. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgac470

Elhassan, YS, Altieri, B, Berhane, S, Cosentini, D, Calabrese, A, Haissaguerre, M, Kastelan, D, Fragoso, MCBV, Bertherat, J, Al Ghuzlan, A, Haak, HR, Boudina, M, Canu, L, Loli, P, Sherlock, M, Kimpel, O, Laganà, M, Sitch, AJ, Kroiss, M, Arlt, W, Terzolo, M, Berruti, A, Deeks, J, Libe, R, Fassnacht, M & Ronchi, CL 2022, 'S-GRAS score for prognostic classification of adrenocortical carcinoma: an international, multicenter ENSAT study', European Journal of Endocrinology , vol. 186, no. 1, pp. 25-36. https://doi.org/10.1530/EJE-21-0510

Deeks, J, Singanayagam, A, Houston, H, Sitch, A, Hakki, S, Dunning, J & Lalvani, A 2022, 'SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow tests for detecting infectious people: linked data analysis', BMJ, vol. 376, 066871. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-066871

Pan, Z, Dickens, A, Chi, C, Kong, X, Enocson, A, Cooper, B, Adab, P, Cheng, KK, Sitch, A, Jowett, S, Adams, R, Correia-de-Sousa, J, Farley, A, Gale, N, Jolly, K, Maglakelidze , M, Maglakelidze , T, Martins , S, Stavrikj, K, Stelmach , R, Turner, A, Williams, S & Jordan, R 2021, 'Accuracy and cost-effectiveness of different screening strategies for identifying undiagnosed COPD among primary care patients (≥40 years) in China: a cross-sectional screening test accuracy study. Findings from the Breathe Well group', BMJ open.

Adab, P, Jordan, R, Fitzmaurice, D, Ayres, J, Cheng, KK, Cooper, B, Daley, A, Dickens, A, Enocson, A, Greenfield, S, Haroon, S, Jolly, K, Jowett, S, Lambe, T, Martin, J, Miller, M, Rai, K, Riley, RD, Sadhra, S, Sitch, A, Siebert, S, Stockley, RA & Turner, A 2021, 'Case-finding and improving patient outcomes for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary care: the BLISS research programme including cluster RCT', Programme Grants for Applied Research, vol. 9, no. 13, pp. 1-180. https://doi.org/10.3310/pgfar09130

Comment/debate

Chortis, V, Sitch, AJ, Bancos, I, Prete, A, Taylor, AE, Biehl, M, Deeks, JJ & Arlt, W 2021, 'Comment on "A Modern Assessment of Cancer Risk in Adrenal Incidentalomas: Analysis of 2219 Patients" by Kahramangil B et al', Annals of surgery. https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000004804

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