Research interests
SAMRC Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa (Honorary Associate Professor)
MRC Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Honorary Senior Research fellow)
My multidisciplinary research is based in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa
Through leadership and creation and extension of partnerships and collaborations across the University, nationally (Bristol, Manchester, Cambridge),and globally (The Gambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Burkina Faso) the objectives of my programme are to determine modifiable environmental (nutritional status, physical capability, body composition) factors that drive:
1. Trajectories of musculoskeletal growth during childhood and adolescence and impacts on later health and disease. Impact: Capitalising on multi-country collaborations and wealth of adolescent growth data, a better understanding of how to optimise growth to benefit the musculoskeletal health of the individual and future generation. Identification of population appropriate, preventative strategies for the predicted rise in sarcopenia and osteoporosis over coming years.
2. Maintenance of musculoskeletal health and the interaction between nutritional non-communicable diseases and bone, muscle and joint ageing. Impact: With the rising burden of nutritional non communicable disease and multimorbidity, a better understanding of the risk factors for multimorbidity, focussing on cardiometabolic diseases and musculoskeletal health, will lead to the identification of strategies for preventative strategies for healthy musculoskeletal ageing in the UK population.
3. Musculoskeletal ageing in Low and Middle Income Countries. Impact: Healthcare systems in Low and Middle Income Countries have a multitude of health priorities. Our existing studies and collaborations place Southampton at the forefront to drive the healthy musculoskeletal ageing agenda for Sub-Saharan Africa. Identifying preventative strategies to maximise health through the working life and into old-age.
4. Adolescent and preconception health in Low and Middle Income Countries with a view to the health of the individual and their offspring through reduction in nutrition-related non-communicable disease risk. Impact: Capacity building for GH research in first 1000 days plus field and novel understanding of how to implement interventions in existing healthcare systems.
PhD Supervision
PhD 3 University of Southampton Students; 3 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Past research supervision: 8 PhD students 3 University of Cambridge; 1 University of Southampton, 3 University of Manchester, 1 University of Sheffield
PhD research
- MRC Project Grant, Musculoskeletal functional ability in three diverse sub-Saharan Africa populations: assessing muscle strength and function to understand healthy ageing. £800K, 2022-2026.
- NIH Trent Fogarty PhD Fellowship, Mechanistic understanding of vitamin D, calcium and bone metabolism during adolescent skeletal growth in children living with HIV. $85000, 2021-2024.
- MRC Lifecrouse Epidemiology Centre Programme Funding; Musculoskeletal health in Later Life (Cooper £3.4m) ; Early Development and risk of adult musculoskeletal disease (Harvey £1.8m). 2021-2026.
- PhD Studentship for Ms Farirayi Nyakoko, £99,776 2020-2023.
- NIHR-Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award: Fractures in Sub-Saharan Africa: epidemiology, economic impact and ethnography (FRACTURES-E3), £3.67m. 2020-2024.
- National Institutes for Health Research Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, PhD Studentship Cardiometabolic phenotyping and bone health in midlife and older age: A comparison across ethnic groups. £60,111 2019-2022.
- National Institutes for Health Research The NIHR Global Health Research Group in leveraging improved nutrition preconception, during pregnancy and postpartum in Sub Saharan Africa though novel intervention models, Southampton 1000 DaysPlus Global Nutrition, at the University of Southampton) £2.32m, 2018-2022.
- HIV Research Trust Scholarship for Ms F Nyakoko, Bone ageing in cohorts across Sub-Saharan Africa, 2020. £7650.
- NIH Trent Fogarty PhD Fellowship, The effect of HIV on trabecular and cortical bone strength, density, geometry and muscle through the lifecourse a pQCT study (in Zimbabwe and South Africa). $78500, 2019-2022 .
- Academy of Medical Sciences Global Challenges Networking Grant, Sub Saharan Africa Musculoskeletal Network: SAMSON, £23950, 2018-2020.
- Medical Research Council Global Challenges Grant Collaborative network for adolescent health and nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa and India, £199999, 2018.
- The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science, The New York Academy of Sciences: Dietary determinents of nutrition status in adolescent women in The Gambia $50 000 , 2015.
- Royal Society UK & National Research Foundation South Africa Bone, body composition and future health collaborative workshop, £7000, 2014.
- Medical Research Foundation Mid-career capital equipment grant to fund bone scanning equipment in the UK and The Gambia, £146 000, 2013.
Research projects
https://thesamson.org/
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/global-health/research/lifecourse-epidemiology/inprep/about-us.page
https://www.mrc.soton.ac.uk/herts/
Research group
Human Development and Health
Affiliate research group
MRC Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, The Gambia SAMRC Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Honorary Associate Professor
Dr Kate A WardMRC Lifecourse Epidemiology, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, SO16 6YD
Email: kw@mrc.soton.ac.ukTel: 02380 777624
Room Number : SGH/MRC/MP95
Dr Kate A Ward's
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