Dr Sheila J Barton BSc, PGCE, MSc, PhD, Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society
Associate Professor in Statistical Genetics

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Dr Sheila Barton is an Associate Professor of Statistical Genetics within Medicine at the University of Southampton.
Sheila Barton was appointed as a Senior Statistician, specialising in the analysis of genetic and epigenetic data, at the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton) in August 2010. In early 2020 she was promoted to the role of Associate Professor in Statistical Genetics at the MRC LEU.
Having graduated from the University of Bristol and worked as research scientist in colloid chemistry; she completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Education in Secondary Mathematics and taught Mathematics (ages 11 to 18) across the full age and ability range including A-Level Statistics. She left teaching to obtain an MSc in Statistics with Applications in Medicine from the University of Southampton in 2000. She began working as a statistician in the School of Medicine in October 2000, initially for the Infection, Inflammation and Immunity division in the area of asthma genetics.
She obtained a PhD in May 2010 from the University of London entitled ‘Statistical analysis of proteomic profile data generated by tandem mass spectrometry’. In 2013 Sheila was invited to be the Senior Trial Statistician for the NiPPeR Trial, a multicentre multi-ethnic randomised control trial of a preconception nutritional intervention designed to improve the glucose tolerance of participants during pregnancy and to improve the health of their offspring. This is the first randomised trial of an intervention starting before conception.
Qualifications
- BSc Chemistry, University of Bristol 1980
- PGCE Mathematics, West Sussex Institute of Higher Education 1992
- MSc Statistics with Applications in Medicine, University of Southampton 2000
- PhD Analysis of Proteomic Data, University of London 2010
Appointments held
- MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton: Associate Professor 2020-present
- MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton: Senior Statistician 2010-2020
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton: Statistician/ Senior Statistician 2000-2010
- Littlehampton Community School, West Sussex: Teacher of Mathematics 1992-1999
- ICI Paints Division, Slough: Research Scientist 1980-1982