{{Short description|British statistician and professor}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Linda D. Sharples | workplaces = University of Leeds <br> London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine <br> Newcastle University | alma_mater = University of Nottingham | thesis_title = Aspects of robustness and approximation in hierarchical models | thesis_url = http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1252182512 | thesis_year = 1998 }}
'''Linda Sharples''' is a British statistician who is Professor of Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her research considers statistical analysis of medical interventions. She has provided expert advice to clinical trials on cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.
== Early life and education == Sharples was trained at the University of Nottingham, where she focussed on mathematics and statistics. Her doctoral research considered robustness and approximation in hierarchical models.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Aspects of robustness and approximation in hierarchical models|date=1988|language=English|first=Linda D|last=Sharples|oclc=1252182512 }}</ref> She joined Newcastle University as a postdoctoral fellow in 1986.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
== Research and career == In 1989, Sharples joined the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dr Linda Sharples {{!}} Cambridge Public Health|url=https://www.cph.cam.ac.uk/staff/dr-linda-sharples|access-date=2022-01-19|website=www.cph.cam.ac.uk|archive-date=2022-01-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119215224/https://www.cph.cam.ac.uk/staff/dr-linda-sharples|url-status=dead}}</ref> in Cambridge. She was made a programme leader in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Linda Sharples|url=https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/sharples.linda|access-date=2022-01-19|website=LSHTM|language=en}}</ref> In this capacity, she developed statistical methods for assessing health technologies. The outcomes of her research were used to update experimental studies and decision models in the Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.<ref name="Professor Linda Sharples">{{Cite web|title=Professor Linda Sharples|url=http://www.anklearthritis.co.uk/professor-linda-sharples|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Ankle Arthritis {{!}} Ankle Replacement {{!}} Arthrodesis {{!}} Ankle Fusion|language=en-GB}}</ref> She applied clinical epidemiology to cardiothoracic transplants.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Methods and applications in the management of heart and lung diseases|url=https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MC_U105232027|access-date=2022-01-19|website=UKRI|archive-date=2022-01-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119215225/https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MC_U105232027|url-status=dead}}</ref> She evaluated surgical procedure and developed multi-state models to describe the history of chronic disease.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-10-14|title=Linda Sharples new Director of the Comprehensive Health Research Division at Leeds Institute of Clinical Trials Research|url=https://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/blog/linda-sharples-new-director-of-the-comprehensive-health-research-division-at-leeds-institute-of-clinical-trials-research/|access-date=2022-01-19|website=MRC Biostatistics Unit|language=en-GB}}</ref>
In 2013, Sharples left the MRC to join the University of Leeds Clinical Trials Unit as a professor of statistics, where she oversaw the Comprehensive Health Research Division, which focussed on trials in musculoskeletal and cardiovascular medicine.<ref name="Professor Linda Sharples"/> She served on the Government of the United Kingdom Commission on Human Medicines.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Membership|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/commission-on-human-medicines/about/membership|access-date=2022-01-19|website=GOV.UK|language=en}}</ref> She moved to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine as a professor of Medical Statistics in 2017.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=LSHTM|title=Linda Sharples Inaugural Lecture: Decisions, decisions, decisions: weighing up the evidence for complex interventions|date=2018-01-30|url=https://vimeo.com/253439319|access-date=2022-01-19}}</ref> She studies how medical statistics can be used to evaluate different interventions.<ref name=":0"/> She is involved with an investigation into the care pathways of bowel cancer patients.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Improving quality of care for bowel cancer patients|url=https://www.arc-nt.nihr.ac.uk/research/projects/improving-quality-of-care-for-bowel-cancer-patients/|access-date=2022-01-19|website=ARC North Thames}}</ref>
== Selected publications == * {{Cite Q|Q39646373}} * {{Cite Q|Q34935546}} * {{Cite Q|Q81596564}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharples, Linda}} Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Academics of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Category:Alumni of the University of Nottingham Category:British statisticians Category:Academics of Newcastle University Category:Academics from London Category:Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) people