Dr Rima K. Dhillon-Smith MBChB, PhD, MRCOG

• Member of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists - June 2017
• PhD – University of Birmingham 2015
• MBChB – University of Birmingham 2009 

Dr Rima Dhillon-Smith received her undergraduate medical training from the University of Birmingham (2009), and completed her core training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, as well as subspecialist training in reproductive medicine and surgery in December 2023. Rima was awarded her PhD, titled “Risk stratification for women undergoing in-vitro fertilisation” in 2015 and achieved multiple high-impact publications from this work. 

She was the lead investigator and first author on the TABLET (Thyroid Antibodies and LEvoThyroxine) trial (£1.7million NIHR EME funded) in the New England Journal of Medicine. She is internationally known for her work in thyroid disease and fertility and pregnancy. She is a co-author on multiple international guidelines (RCOG and ATA). Furthermore, she is part of a collaboration with the Consortium of Thyroid and Pregnancy and has submitted national grant applications for projects within the collaboration.

Rima is a senior investigator for the LOCI trial, a multi-centre £2.1million NIHR HTA funded project investigating Letrozole vs Clomifene (with or without metformin) for ovulation induction in women with PCOS.

Rima has been awarded grants from the Academy of Medical Sciences and NIHR for her work in thyroid disease

• 2^nd year MBChB RED module
• 5^th year MBChB Obstetrics and Gynaecology module
• BSc Women’s Health
• Endocrinology for Part 1 MRCOG – ACE courses lecturer (http://www.acecourses.co.uk/dr-rima-smith/)

Dr Rima Dhillon-Smith is passionate about developing and supporting the next generation of researchers.

List of past and present PhD students:

• Tom Bamford, “The application and impact of non-invasive testing of human pre-implantation embryos by morphokinetics assessment during assisted conception”
• Ishita Mishra, “Adenomyosis and Miscarriage”
• Yealin Chung, “Diet and miscarriage”
• Emily Fox, “Omega-3 and early pregnancy loss: development of a trial platform and delivery of a multi-arm randomised controlled trial”
• Kuga Vigneswaran, “The impact of polycystic ovary syndrome and its phenotypes on reproductive outcomes

Rima’s research interests lie in reproductive endocrinology, subfertility, early pregnancy and adolescent gynaecology; specifically in setting up and delivering clinical trials.

Reproductive endocrinology

Rima is a senior investigator for the LOCI trial (£2.1million NIHR HTA funded) investigating the use of Letrozole vs Clomifene (with or without metformin) for ovulation induction in women with PCOS.

Rima was the lead researcher and first author for TABLET trial (£1.7million NIHR EME funded trial). She has personal grant awards from NIHR and the Academy of Medical Sciences for work in thyroid disease. She is a co-author on two international guidelines for thyroid disease and fertility and pregnancy (RCOG and ATA).

Subfertility

Rima is a member of the UNITY (Unexplained Infertility Treatment Trial; NIHR HTA funded £1.8million) team in Birmingham. She has focused research into evaluating the effectiveness of add-ons used in assisted reproduction.

Early pregnancy

Rima supervises several PhD students within the Tommy’s National Centre for miscarriage research. She oversees a wide range of work, from investigating associations and risk factors for pregnancy loss to possible interventions to reduce the chance of pregnancy loss.

Paediatric and adolescent gynaecology

Rima’s portfolio of work includes looking at the use of inositol for adolescents with PCOS, and the management of heavy menstrual bleeding, pain and PMS symptoms in adolescents

Research groups and centres

Rima is a senior member of the Tommy’s National centre for miscarriage team. She is the clinical academic lead for the Birmingham team.

•  Tommys National Centre for Miscarriage Research

Dr Rima Dhillon-Smith is a member of an international consortium on thyroid disorders and pregnancy. 

Dr Rima Dhillon-Smith works as an Honorary Consultant Gynaecologist at the Birmingham Women’s and Childrens NHS Foundation Trust. She works across the Women’s and Children’s services in looking after girls and adolescents with gynaecological problems. She is a subspecialist in Reproductive medicine and cares for couples having assisted reproduction treatment and she works clinically in the Tommys miscarriage clinic caring for couples who have suffered pregnancy losses.

Rima is a section editor for Reproductive Medicine for BMC Endocrine Disorders, Springer Nature (since 2017) and an associate editor for Cochrane Clinical Answers since 2016.  She also serves as a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences Clinical Academic Careers Working Group.

Rima also actively participates in fundraising activities for Ammalife charity (UK-registered charity with a global mission of reducing maternal deaths in low-income countries): Kilimanjaro climb, 2mile swim across Lake Windermere.