About
Nicholas Harvey is Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton, Director of the University’s MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre and Director Designate of the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre. He is President of the International Osteoporosis Foundation; a Board Member of the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases; a UK Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) former Trustee and was inaugural Vice-Chair of the ROS Research Academy. He is a Fellow of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. He has won many national/international prizes, most recently the International Osteoporosis Foundation Olof Johnell Science Award and the UoS-UHS David Barker Research Prize. He is an NIHR Senior Investigator and Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher; he has published over 550 articles and is a member of many national/ international committees, including as MSK lead for UK Biobank Imaging Study.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Lifecourse epidemiology of osteoporosis and fragility fractures
- Understanding mechanism and development of novel interventions across lifecourse to prevent fragility fractures
Current research
MRC Programme Grant: Early development and risk of adult musculoskeletal disease
The aim of my MRC programme is to integrate observational epidemiology and mechanistic understanding to inform novel interventions in early life to reduce the risk of later diseases such as osteoporosis and sarcopenia. Whilst our results have already informed national guidelines (DH, NICE, Public Health England and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition), the programme will advance this work by generating discovery science to delineate underlying mechanisms and to establish the wider relevance of the findings in order to inform the successful implementation of resulting public health strategies.
Later lifecourse research
Through my leadership of the DXA imaging for the UK Biobank Imaging Study, I collaborate widely on epidemiological analyses using this unique cohort. Particular interests include bone-heart-brain interactions (with QMUL, funded by BHF) and investigations of novel DXA derived phenotypes (with Universities of Bristol and Manchester, funded by Wellcome Trust). As part of the FRAX scientific management group I am one of the architects of the second version of this global standard fracture risk assessment tool, and associated FRAXplus platform. This collaboration supports my ongoing work investigating the role of muscle -related factors in fracture risk assessment and has directly impacted clinical care internationally.
Research supervision
10 clinical/nonclinical PhD students to completion; 2 ongoing
PhD fellowships/studentships from MRC, Wellcome Trust, BHF, Kerkutt Trust
Research funding in last 3 years
1. MRC: Programme Grant: Early development and risk of adult musculoskeletal disease: July 2021-June 2026: £1.84m; PI
2. MRC Postdoctoral Research Training Fellowship (Fernandes) November 2021-October 2027, supervisor, £355,598
3. MRC, VidiKids South Africa: May 2018-May 2021 - Prof Adrian Martineau, Prof Cyrus Cooper, Prof Nicholas Harvey et al - £327,885.66 - Co-I
4. Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award, AUGMENT: September 2018-September 2023 - Prof Jon Tobias, Prof Nicholas Harvey et al - £1.6m - Co-I
5. British Heart Foundation: April 2018-April 2021 - £231,716 - Research Training Fellowship, Z Raisi-Estbragh, Supervisors: Prof Steffen Petersen, Prof Nicholas Harvey
6. BBSRC: January 2017-October 2019 - Prof Nicholas Harvey - £125,000 (of total £1.2m) - Early Epigenetic Influences on Bone Development-Cross Cohort Analysis (ALPHABET) - PI
7. Wellcome Trust: August 2016-August 2019 - £252,397 - Clinical Research Training Fellowship Epigenetic Determinants of Bone Microarchitecture, E Curtis – Supervisors: N Harvey, C Cooper
8. Medical Research Council/Wellcome Trust/British Heart Foundation: April 2014-March 2021 - Prof Nicholas Harvey (Co-applicant) - £42 million - UK Biobank Imaging Enhancement (Full study) - Co-I; DXA lead
9. Arthritis Research UK, September 2016-September 2021, Prof Nicholas Harvey et al.: £362,894. MAVIDOS Trial 6 year child follow-up. PI
10. Medical Research Council: 1 April 2015-31 March 2020 - Profs Cyrus Cooper, Elaine Dennison and Nicholas Harvey - £4.11 million - Lifecourse Determinants of Bone and Joint Disease, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit - Co-PI
11. Medical Research Council/University of Southampton: 2013-18 - Profs Cyrus Cooper and Nicholas Harvey - £841,392 - Epigenetics PhD Studentships - Co-PI
12. EU FP7: 2013-2018 - Prof Nicholas Harvey, Prof Cyrus Cooper, Prof Keith Godfrey et al - £195,608 (of £6m total) - Co-I
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Publications
Teaching
BM1 Locomotor Course
Teaching has included 4th and 5th year rheumatology teaching, Academic F2 teaching programme
Lecture BM4 Course, MMedsci Course
External roles and responsibilities
Biography
Nicholas Harvey is Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Southampton, Director of the University’s MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre and Director Designate of the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre. He is President of the International Osteoporosis Foundation; a Board Member of the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases; a UK Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) former Trustee and was inaugural Vice-Chair of the ROS Research Academy. He is a Fellow of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. He has won many national/international prizes, most recently the International Osteoporosis Foundation Olof Johnell Science Award and the UoS-UHS David Barker Research Prize. He is an NIHR Senior Investigator and Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher; he has published over 550 articles and is a member of many national/ international committees, including as MSK lead for UK Biobank Imaging Study.
Prizes
- International Award for Publishing Excellence (2016)
- IOF Medal of Achievement (2018)
- Clinical Trustee of the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society. (2019)
- Chair, International Osteoporosis Foundation Committee of Scientific Advisors (2019)
- Vice Chair, Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy, ROS (2019)
- Kohn Award (2012)
- International Award for Publishing Excellence (2016)
- IOF Medal of Achievement (2018)
- Clinical Trustee of the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society. (2019)
- Chair, International Osteoporosis Foundation Committee of Scientific Advisors (2019)
- Vice Chair, Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy, ROS (2019)
- Kohn Award (2012)
- Professor Nicholas Harvey welcomed as new IOF President. (2024)
- The David Barker Award for Research. (2024)