Editorial Team

Sophie Cook Sophie is a doctor who trained and worked in the UK as a general practitioner. She has 12 years’ editorial experience at The BMJ. She joined The BMJ as editorial registrar in 2009 before moving on to work initially as clinical editor on The BMJ’s education section, eventually becoming the head of education running clinical reviews and helping to devise and implement the stricter conflicts of interest policy for education content. In 2017, Sophie became UK research editor, working with an international team to encourage and process research submissions. In 2019 she moved to head of scholarly comment, where she ran the analysis section of The BMJ and provided senior oversight for editorials, rapid responses management, and letters. Coming from a general practice background, Sophie’s clinical interests are broad. However, she is particularly passionate about improving the health of women and children, the effects of climate on health, promoting sustainable healthcare, and the impact of social determinants of health. Editorially, Sophie advocates equality and diversity in research and publication, minimising conflicts of interest, and promoting partnership with patients and the public. Competing Interests

Tom Nolan Tom is a clinical editor who has worked at the BMJ for 7 years, initially commissioning practice articles and then as Education editor between 2022-2024. His editorial experience includes editing the BMJ’s NICE guideline summary series, Rapid Recommendation guidelines, the WHO guideline on drugs for covid-19, and launching the BMJ’s Sustainable Practice series.  He co-hosts the primary care podcast Deep Breath In and writes the BMJ’s regular research reviews column. He is also a practising GP, with over 10 years experience as a qualified GP, and is a teaching fellow at King’s College London. His role at BMJ Medicine includes handling research, commissioning editorials and methods primers, and implementing BMJ Medicine’s digital strategy.

Menaka Paranathala Menaka is a clinical editor, currently working with BMJ Medicine developing the Specialist Review Series. Her aim is to develop the specialist content that doctors can rely on to keep up-to-date, and guide clinical practice, as well as to understand the underlying pathophysiology and mechanisms of disease. She has experience in peer review and is particularly interested in social determinants of health, mentorship, women’s health, and critical appraisal of research. She has worked in the NHS in full-time clinical roles for 11 years and has completed neurosurgical specialist training, having worked in Oxford, London and Newcastle. She read Medicine at Oxford University, where she also obtained a BA in neuroscience. She holds a Masters in health professionals education with distinction, is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and PLAB examiner with the GMC. Alongside her role at the BMJ she is an honorary researcher with the National Neurology and Neurosurgery Hospital, Queens Square London with particular interests in neuromodulation, epilepsy, pain, and movement disorders.

Richard Riley Richard Riley is a Professor of Biostatistics at Keele University, having previously held posts at the Universities of Birmingham, Liverpool and Leicester. His research focuses on the application and development of methods for meta-analysis, risk prediction and prognosis research, and he is the senior statistician on various research grants from funders including the MRC and NIHR. He has published over 200 research articles, and is lead Editor of the books ‘Prognosis Research in Healthcare: Concepts, Methods and Impact’, published by Oxford University Press in 2019, and “Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis: A Handbook for Healthcare Research”, published by Wiley in 2021. He leads various training courses and hosts the websites www.prognosisresearch.com and www.ipdma.co.uk. He is also a Statistics Editor for The BMJ and a co-convenor of the Cochrane Prognosis Methods Group. ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8699-0735

Rafael Perera-Salazar Rafael Perera, Turing Fellow (2020-21) and Professor of Medical Statistics in the University of Oxford. He is Director of the Medical Statistics group in the Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. Has a longstanding research interest in the use of tests to support clinical decision-making (mainly monitoring long-term conditions). He has been one of the Statistical Editors for The BMJ since 2011 and has held similar roles for the EBM-BMJ, Colorectal Disease and several of the Cochrane Review groups. ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2418-2091

Katie Harron Katie Harron is a Professor of Statistics and Health Data Science at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, where her research aims to exploit the rich data that are collected as people interact with services through data linkage. She is particularly interested in using linked administrative data to evaluate early interventions and improve services for children and families. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3418-2856

Sophia Walker Sophia Walker has built on her experience of living with type 1 diabetes since the age of six to now advocate for the increased role of the patient perspective in treatment development, healthcare delivery, and outcomes research. She has a background in clinical trial management, pharmaceutical market access, and commercialisation and communication strategies. She was formerly the Accelerated Access Lead at JDRF UK, the type 1 diabetes medical research charity. She holds an MSc in Health, Community, and Development from the London School of Economics.

Clare Stacey Clare qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2001. During her career she worked in a variety of acute and community based clinical settings. Prior to retiring from the profession in 2017, she specialised in the support of adults with long term conditions in the community, end of life care and admission avoidance. As a patient with Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (VEDS) Clare works with charities, patient experience groups and professionals to raise awareness of VEDS, and the challenges faced by people living with a rare disease. Clare’s aim is to use her experience as both patient and professional to encourage positive learning and change.

Publishing Executive: Caitlin Shortall Publisher: Geetha Balasubramaniam Head of Portfolio: Theodora Bloom