Professor Sam Watson

Sam Watson

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Professor of Biostatics

Contact details

Email
s.i.watson@bham.ac.uk
Address
Murray Learning Centre
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor of Biostatics in the Department of Applied Health Sciences working on applied statistics in public health and healthcare. Dr Watson's current research looks at methods of evaluation in low resource settings including cluster trial and survey methodology particularly using Bayesian methods. Current grants/projects include evaluation of water and sanitation interventions in the Cox's Bazar displaced person's camps in Bangladesh, efficient geographical cluster design, NIHR RIGHT programme on leprosy and Buruli ulcer, NIHR Global Heath Research Unit on Improving Health in Slums, stepped-wedge cluster trial of a mental health programme in Malawi (NIH), geostatistical analysis of Covid-19 data for routine surveillence (MRC/UKRI), and healthcare access and use survey in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Health Sciences, University of Warwick, 2014
  • MSc in Health Economics, City University of London, 2011
  • BSc. (Hons) in Natural Sciences, University of Bath, 2010

Postgraduate supervision

Applied statistics: experimental design, cluster trials, spatial statistics

Research

I am a statistician in the Instititue of Applied Health Research. My research interests relate to experimental design, particularly cluster randomised trials, spatial statistics, and their intersection. Recent and ongoing grants I lead include an MRC/NIHR funded project examining the design and analysis of evaluations of interventions in space (and time), particularly focussing on generalised linear geospatial and mixed models; an NIHR/UKRI funded project on methods for real-time disease surveillance using geospatial prevalence mapping methods; and a small GCRF project piloting use of low-cost imperfect tests as outcome measures for prevalence estimation and evaluation of local interventions.聽

I am also a co-investigator for several global health trials and survey-based projects including the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Improving Health in Slums (NIHR), a stepped-wedge trial of integrating depression care into routine HIV and chronic illness services in Malawi (NIH), the NIHR RIGHT programme on leprosy and Buruli ulcer, and a stepped-wedge trial of remote telephone consulting in Tanzania and Nigeria (NIHR/GCRF).

Publications

Highlight publications

I. Watson, S 2021, '', Journal of Applied Statistics.

Watson, SI, Lilford, RJ, Sun, J & Bion, J 2021, '', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C (Applied Statistics), vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 1164-1186.

Watson, S, Girling, A & Hemming, K 2021, '', Statistics in Medicine, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 1133-1146.

Watson, SI, Dixon-Woods, M & Lilford, RJ 2020, '', Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 34-35.

Recent publications

Article

Hemming, K, Hall, J, Copas, A, Watson, S, Taljaard, M & Hooper, R 2025, '', BMJ, vol. 391, e084194.

Watson, SI & Smith, TA 2025, '', Journal of the American Statistical Association.

Watson, S & Hooper, R 2025, '', BMJ Quality & Safety, pp. 631-636.

Girling, AJ & Watson, SI 2025, '', Statistics in Medicine, vol. 44, no. 13-14, e70100.

Dibba, Y, Boima, F, Jerome, JG, Watson, SI, Chery, L, Higgins, J, Chung, V, Joseph, S, Mulailwa, KP, Mukherjee, J & Mekonnen, ZA 2025, '', BMJ open, vol. 15, no. 4, e093501.

Lilford, R, Daniels, B, McPake, B, Bhutta, Z, Mash, R, Griffiths, F, Omigbodun, A, Pereira Pinto, Jr, E, Jain, R, Asiki, G, Webb, E, Scandrett, K, Chilton, P, Sartori, J, Chen, Y-F, Waiswa, P, Ezeh, A, Kyobutungi, C, Leung, GM, Machado, C, Sheikh, K, Watson, S & Das, J 2025, '', Lancet Global Health, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. E954-E966.

Reeves, K, Watson, SI, Crothers, H, Bird, P, Lawson, A, Skrybant, M & Lilford, R 2025, '', BMJ Public Health, vol. 3, no. 2, e002095.

Lilford, RJ, Daniels, B, McPake, B, Bhutta, ZA, Mash, R, Griffiths, F, Omigbodun, A, Pereira Pinto, Jr, E, Jain, R, Asiki, G, Webb, E, Scandrett, K, Chilton, PJ, Sartori, J, Chen, Y-F, Waiswa, P, Ezeh, A, Kyobutungi, C, Leung, GM, Machado, C, Sheikh, K, Watson, SI & Das, J 2025, '', Lancet Global Health, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. e942-e953.

McBain, RK, Mwale, O, Mpinga, K, Kamwiyo, M, Kayira, W, Ruderman, T, Connolly, E, Watson, SI, Wroe, EB, Munyaneza, F, Dullie, L, Raviola, G, Smith, SL, Kulisewa, K, Udedi, M, Patel, V & Wagner, GJ 2024, '', The Lancet, vol. 404, no. 10465, pp. 1823-1834.

Watson, SI, Ul Alam, MA, Rego, RTT, Lilford, R, Barman, AK, Alam, B, Faruque, ASG & Islam, MS 2024, '', Conflict and Health, vol. 18, 62.

Comment/debate

Lilford, RJ, Daniels, B, McPake, B, Bhutta, Z, Mash, R, Griffiths, F, Omigbodun, A, Pereira Pinto, Jr, E, Jain, R, Asiki, G, Webb, E, Scandrett, K, Chilton, PJ, Sartori, J, Chen, Y-F, Waiswa, P, Ezeh, A, Kyobutungi, C, Leung, GM, Machado, C, Sheikh, K, Watson, SI & Das, J 2025, '', Lancet Global Health, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. E795-E796.

Review article

Kachapila, M, Watson, S, Pinkney, T, Hall, JA, Andronis, L & Oppong, R 2025, '', Value in Health, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 477-488.

Thompson, J, Watson, SI, Middleton, L & Hemming, K 2025, '', Trials, vol. 26, 1.

Thompson, JY, Shaw, J, Watson, S, Wang, Y, Robinson, C, Taljaard, M & Hemming, K 2025, '', Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.

Napit, IB, Shrestha, D, Choudhury, S, Gkini, E, Ilozumba, O, Gill, P, Bishop, J, Neupane, K, Adhikari, A, Sartori, J, Watson, SI & Lilford, R 2024, '', PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, vol. 18, no. 5, e0012088.