Address:

MRC Biostatistics Unit,
Institute of Public Health,
University Forvie Site,
Robinson Way,
Cambridge. UK.
CB2 0SR

Telephone Number:

Email Address:

Research Interests:

Statistical science is about well-designed data capture and disciplined study protocols as well as analytical techniques. We apply, and develop, statistical science at the interface of public health and other jurisdictions: veterinary, criminal justice, military.

In particular, we focus on transmissible diseases which impact on other jurisdictions. Examples are: BSE and vCJD (the human form of ‘mad cow disease’); criminal justice and injecting drug users' morbidity (including from Hepatitis C virus) and mortality (including from overdose); and pandemic influenza.

Selected Recent Publications:

Hutchinson SJ, BIRD SM, Goldberg DJ. Modelling the current and future disease burden of Hepatitis C among injecting drug users in Scotland. Hepatology 2005; 42: 711-723.

BIRD SM, Fairweather CB. Military fatality rates (by cause) in Afghanistan and Iraq: a measure of the opposition. International Journal of Epidemiology 2007; 36: 841-846

Royal Statistical Society Working Party (chair: Prof Stephen Senn, member: SM BIRD). Statistical issues in first-in-man studies. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Statistics in Society) 2007; 170: 517-579.

BIRD SM. Fatal accident inquiries into 97 deaths in prison custody in Scotland (1999-2003, or during first five years of operation of Scotland's only private prison): elapsed time to end of inquiry or written determination, issues and recommendations. Howard Journal for Criminal Justice 2008 (published online 22 May ahead of print version); 47: 343-370.

BIRD SM, Lynskey M, English C, Donnelly J, Michael M, Treble R. Revisiting British Army Drug Testing, 2003-07: test thresholds, efficient targeting, and underlying trends. Journal of Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) 2008; 153: 16-23.

BIRD SM, Farrar J. Minimum dataset needed for confirmed human H5N1 cases. Lancet 2008; 372: 696-697.

King R, BIRD SM, Hay G, Hutchinson SJ. Updated estimation of the prevalence of injecting drug-users in Scotland via capture-recapture methods. Statistical Methods in Medical Research OnlineFirst 26 November 2008 as doi:10.1177/0962280208094701.

McDonald SA, Hutchinson SJ, BIRD SM, Mills PR, Dillon J, Bloor M, Robertson C, Donaghy M, Hayes P, Graham L, Goldberg DJ. A population-based record linkage study of mortality in hepatitis C diagnosed persons with and without HIV co-infection in Scotland. Statistical Methods in Medical Research OnlineFirst 26 November2008 as doi:10.1177/0962280208094690.

Surveys, Design and Statistics Subcommittee (chair: BIRD SM) of Home Office's Scientific Advisory Committee. 21st Century Drugs and Statistical Science. Home Office, 15 December 2008. (See http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/science-advisory-committee/21st-century-drugs-stats?view=Binary).

BIRD SM, Merrall ELC, Ward H, Will RG. Survival and neurological re-operation rates after neurosurgical procedures in Scotland: implications for targeted surveillance of sub-clinical vCJD. Neuroepidemiology 2009; 33: 1 - 11. (Also DOI: 10.1159/000209281).