Dr Elizabeth (Beth) Curtis MA, BMBCh, MRCP (Rheumatology, London)

Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow in Rheumatology

Related links

Personal homepage

Dr Beth Curtis is a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow in Rheumatology at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, within the department of Medicine at the University of Southampton.

Dr Beth Curtis undertook her medical training at the University of Oxford, Brasenose College, graduating in 2010. Whilst there, she undertook a BA in Medical Sciences, graduating with a first class honours degree and developing interests in both rheumatology and human development.

Inspired by her experiences on a busy hip fracture ward at Southampton General Hospital, and mentorship from the rheumatology team as an SHO, she joined a team of bone health researchers at the MRC LEU as an Academic Foundation Doctor, working on the early-life determinants of osteoporosis. She gained an Academic Clinical Fellowship within the Wessex Rheumatology Specialist Training programme in 2014, and in 2016 was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowship. She is now finishing her doctoral studies supervised by Professor Cyrus Cooper and Professor Nick Harvey and epigenetics specialists Professor Karen Lillycrop and Dr Christopher Bell. Her research is based on the mechanisms which determine musculoskeletal health in childhood, including epigenetic processes and the action of vitamin D. She is working on the Southampton Women’s Survey and the MAVIDOS randomised controlled trial of vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy.

She has also contributed to parallel projects on drug safety in various rheumatological conditions, working within a European collaboration, ESCEO, and with the British Society for Rheumatology, in addition to projects on fractures and bone health using data from Clinical Practice Research Datalink and UK Biobank. She is also working towards a Postgraduate Diploma in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Qualifications:

BA (Hons), Medical Sciences, University of Oxford, 2007

BMBCh, University of Oxford, 2010

MRCP, London, 2013

MRCP Specialty Certificate in Rheumatology, London, 2017

Appointments held:

August 2016- current  Specialty Registrar in Rheumatology (ST5), University Hospitals Southampton NHS FT (Out of Programme Research)

August 2016- current  Postgraduate Diploma in Epidemiology Candidate, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London      

Dec 2015 – Aug 2016  Specialist Registrar (ST4) on Wessex Rheumatology rotation, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth

Mar 2015- Dec 2015  NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton

Dec 2014- Feb 2015  Out of programme research project at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand          

Aug 2014 – Dec 2014 Specialist Registrar (ST3) on Wessex Rheumatology rotation, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth

Aug 2012 – Aug 2014 Core Medical Trainee, University Hospitals Southampton NHS FT

Aug 2010- Aug 2012   NIHR Academic Foundation Doctor, University Hospitals Southampton NHS FT