Newcastle University

Background

After 12 years as a computer programmer in local government I retrained to become a statistician and worked in the Civil Service from 1988 to 2002. I then worked at in the Medical School at Dundee University until 2006 when I started in my current post in the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University.

Roles and Responsibilities

At Dundee University I carried out statistical analysis of population based data concerning the safety and effectiveness of medicines and drugs for diabetes, asthma and other diseases. I also assisted with the preparation of protocols for new studies and publication of papers. In my current post at Newcastle University I have contributed to the development of algorithms to help psychologists diagnosis autism and autistic spectrum disorders: this work involves a factor analysis of the multi-item scores from instruments currently used to measure the extent and nature of these disorders. In the Gateshead Millenium Study I am developing a measure of adiposity and studying the relationship between adiposity at 6-7 years and growth and feeding behaviour in infancy, children’s health related behaviour (diet, nutrition and activity), mental health, social communication skills and activity levels and parental attitudes to health related behaviours. I am also collaborating with Richard Mcnally in the analysis of incidence data to identify seasonal patterns and risk factors in Childhood Cancers.

Qualifications

BSc II(i) in Maths at Leeds University
MSc in Statistics at Sheffield University
PhD in Statistics at Newcastle University

Previous Positions

Research Associate at Dundee University 2002 - 2006

• Proctor SJ, Wilkinson J, Jones G, Watson GC, Lucraft HH, Mainou-Fowler T, Culligan D, Galloway MJ, Wood KM, McNally RJ, James PW, Goodlad JR. Prospective evaluation of treatment outcome in 175 patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) aged 60 years or over: the SHIELD study. Blood 2012, (epub ahead of print).
• McNally RJ, James PW, Picton SV, McKinney PA, van Laar M, Feltbower RG. Space-time clustering of childhood central nervous system tumours in Yorkshire, UK. BMC Cancer 2012, 12(1), 13.
• McNally R, Blakey K, James P, Gomez-Pozo B, Basta N, Hale J. Geographical analyses of thyroid cancer in Great Britain, 1976-20005. In: Pediatric Blood & Cancer: 43rd Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). 2011, Auckland, New Zealand: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Lee TJW, Rees CJ, Blanks RG, Moss SM, Nickerson C, Wright KC, James PW, McNally RJQ, Patnick J, Rutter MD, NREG. Patient and colonscopy factors influencing adenoma detection in patients undergoing colonoscopy in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. In: Gut: Annual Meeting of the British Society of Gastroenterology. 2011, Birmingham, UK: BMJ Group.
• McNally RJQ, James PW, Ducker S, James OFW. Seasonal variation in the diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis: further evidence for an environmental component to etiology. Hepatology 2011, 54(6), 2099-2103.
• McNally R, Gomez-Pozo B, Blakey K, James P, Pearce M, Craft A, Rushton S. Socioeconomic diversity and the incidence of childhood leukaemia in Northern England. In: Pediatric Blood & Cancer: 43rd Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). 2011, Auckland, New Zealand: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Basta NO, James PW, Gomez-Pozo B, Craft AW, McNally RJQ. Survival From Childhood and Young Adult Cancer in Northern England, 1968-2005. In: European Journal of Cancer: European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress on Integrating Basic and Translational Science, Surgery, Radiotherapy, Medical oncology, Advocacy and Care. 2011, Stockholm, Sweden: Pergamon.
• Basta NO, James PW, Gomez-Pozo B, Craft AW, McNally RJ. Survival from childhood cancer in northern England, 1968-2005. British Journal of Cancer 2011, 105(9), 1402-1408.
• McNally R, Basta N, James P, Gomez-Pozo B, Craft A. Survival from childhood cancer in Northern England, 1968-2005. In: Pediatric Blood & Cancer: 43rd Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). 2011, Auckland, New Zealand: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Forsyth R, McNally R, James P, Crossland K, Woolley M, Colver A. Variation at local government level in the support for families of severely disabled children and the factors that affect it. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 2010, 52(11), e259-e266.
• Pennington L, James P, McNally R, Pay H, McConachie H. Analysis of compositional data in communication disorders research. Journal of Communication Disorders 2009, 42(1), 18-28.
• Pennington L, Thomson K, James P, Martin K, McNally RJ. Effects of It Takes Two to Talk - The Hanen program for parents of preschool children with cerebral palsy: findings from an exploratory study. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 2009, 52(5), 1121-1138.
• Magnanti BL, Dorak MT, Parker L, Craft AW, James PW, McNally RJQ. Geographical analysis of thyroid cancer in young people from northern England: Evidence for a sustained excess in females in Cumbria. European Journal of Cancer 2009, 45(9), 1624-1629.
• Eyre R, Feltbower RG, Mubwandarikwa E, Jenkinson HC, Parkes S, Birch JM, Eden TOB, James PW, McKinney PA, Pearce MS, McNally RJQ. Incidence and survival of childhood bone cancer in northern England and the West Midlands, 1981-2002. British Journal of Cancer 2009, 100(1), 188-193.
• Basta NO, James PW, Craft AW, McNally RJ. Seasonal variation in birth and diagnosis of cancer in children and young people in Northern England, 1968-2005. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 2009, 63(Suppl 2), A8.
• Feltbower RG, Eyre R, James PW, Blakey K, Mubwandarikwa E, Forman D, McKinney PA, Pearce MS, McNally RJ. The epidemiology of bone cancer diagnosed in 0-49-year-olds in northern England, 1981-2002. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2009, 63, 22.
• McNally R, Feltbower R, Mubwandarikwa E, James P, Jenkinson H, Parkes S, Birch J, McKinney P, Eden T. Incidence and survival for bone tumours diagnosed in 0-14 year olds from Northern England and the West Midlands, 1981-2002 [Abstract]. In: Pediatric Blood and Cancer: 40th Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology. 2008, Berlin, Germany.
• Magnanti BL, Tevfik M, Parker L, Craft AW, James PW, McNally RJQ. Sex-specific incidence and temporal trends in solid tumours in young people from Northern England, 1968-2005. BMC Cancer 2008, 8(89).
• Magnanti BL, Dorak MT, Parker L, Craft AW, James PW, McNally RJQ. Sex-specific patterns and trends in the incidence of hematologic malignancies in 0-24 year olds from Northern England, 1968-2005. Haematologica 2008. , 93(9), 1438-1440.
• McNally R, James P, Craft A. Space-time clustering of cancer in young people from Northern England. Epidemiology 2008, 19(S6), S218-S219.
• Matthews J, James P. Restricted Optimal Design in the Measurement of Cerebral Blood Flow using the Kety-Schmidt Technique. In:Wong W.H., Berger M.P.F, ed. Optimal Designs: Principles and Practice.Chichester:Wiley,2005. In Press.
• Tan HH, McAlpine RR, James P, Thompson P, McMurdo ME, Morris AD, Evans JM. Diagnosis of type 2 diabetes at an older age: effect on mortality in men and women. Diabetes Care 2004,27 12 2797-2799.
• James P, Tan HH, MacAlpine R, Brennan G, Emslie-Smith A, Morris AD. Treatment gap in the use of lipid-lowering drug therapy in diabetes: a population-based study. Diabetic Medicine 2004,21 10 1108-1112.
• Han SW, McColl E, Steen IN, Barton JR, James P, Welfare MR. The predictors of hospital clinic visits in patients with ulcerative colitis: An examination of disease variables, quality of life and illness perception. In: GASTROENTEROLOGY. 2000.