Biographical Statement

Dr. Gemma Taylor is an academic and epidemiologist with over 15 years of experience in research methods, statistics, and epidemiology, working across NHS, industry, and academic sectors. Dr. Taylor is well-known for her pioneering and internationally renowned work in tobacco epidemiology, evidencing the mental health benefits of smoking cessation, and implementing smoking cessation interventions in psychology services.

Dr. Taylor has developed and applied rigorous methods and innovative tools to generate and synthesise real-world and clinical evidence that informs health policy and practice. She specialises in epidemiology, causal inference, randomised controlled trials, patient reported outcomes, behavioural intervention development, real world data, electronic health care records and evidence synthesis. Dr. Taylor has received multiple awards and prizes for her research excellence and impact and has published over fifty peer-reviewed articles in journals such as World Psychiatry, BMJ, Lancet Psychiatry, and the Cochrane Database.

Her mission is to advance the understanding and improvement of health outcomes for people with complex and chronic conditions, using innovative research methods.

Research Funding

Dr. Taylor has secured research funding totaling ~£1.5 million as a Principal Investigator and ~£35 million as a Co-Investigator. This funding encompasses a broad spectrum of research topics and is sourced from competitive funders such as the Medical Research Council (MRC), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

Industry Leadership and Innovative Collaborations

Dr. Taylor's influence extends beyond academia as she stands at the forefront of pioneering collaborations with industry leaders. Her focus centres on innovative data science approaches aimed at enhancing patient health outcomes. In addition to her academic role as a Reader, Dr. Taylor holds the position of Head of Data Science and Analytics at Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR), a leading consultancy providing statistical and research services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries.

Teaching

Dr. Taylor’s teaching responsibilities extend to various academic programmes, where she teaches statistics and research methods, nurturing the next generation of data and clinical scientists. Dr. Taylor teaches and supervises on Psychology BSc and MSc, Clinical Psychology Doctorate DClinPsy, and MMath BSc at the University of Bath. Dr. Taylor has previously taught on Biomedical Sciences (BSc) and Public Health (MSc) at the Universities of Bristol and Birmingham.

Awards and Commendations

Dr. Taylor's dedication to the field of epidemiology and public health has resulted in multiple distinguished awards: 

• High-Impact Award, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour, 2023 
• Recognising Excellence Award, University of Bath, 2022
• International Society of Behavioral Medicine, Early Career Award, 2021 
• Society for the Study of Addiction, Fred Yates Prize, 2020 
• UK Society for Behavioral Medicine, Early Career Award, 2018 
• Cancer Research UK, Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, 2017 
• Welcome Trust, Public Engagement Prize, 2015 
• BMJ, Best Research Paper of the Year Award, 2014 
• NIHR Coordinating Centre for Research, Capacity Development Scholarship, 2011 

Research Interests and Contribution

Dr. Taylor's current research interests reflect her evolving mission. She is now actively engaged in collaborations aimed at employing innovative methods to enhance patient outcomes, by combining her academic and commercial expertise. Her recent blog post, "Target Trial Emulation Using Real-World Data," provides a glimpse into the next stage of her career and demonstrates her commitment to driving transformative change in healthcare. 

For more insights into the career and research of Dr. Gemma Taylor, we invite you to explore her research outputs on Google Scholar, YouTube channel, or to connect with her directly on LinkedIn. 

Statistics and research methods

I'd be delighted to supervise research students who have research interests aligned with mine.