Deborah Ashby | |
|---|---|
| Born | Deborah Davis (1959-08-21)21 August 1959 (age 66) London, England |
| Education | Southend High School for Girls |
| Alma mater | University of Exeter London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medical statistics Bayesian statistics |
| Institutions | Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine University of Liverpool Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Imperial College London |
| Thesis | A statistical investigation of the relationship of serum biochemistry and haematology to alcohol consumption (1983) |
| Doctoral advisor | Stuart Pocock |
Deborah Ashby (néeDavis; born 21 August 1959) is a Britishstatistician and academic who specialises inmedical statistics andBayesian statistics. She is the Director of the School of Public Health and Chair in Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials atImperial College London. She was previously alecturer then areader at theUniversity of Liverpool and aprofessor atQueen Mary University of London.
Ashby was bornDeborah Davis on 21 August 1959 inLondon, England. She was the only daughter of George Herbert Davis and Jean Davis (née Martin). She was educated atSouthend High School for Girls, agrammar school inSouthend-on-Sea, Essex.[1]
From 1977 to 1980, she studiedmathematics at theUniversity of Exeter and graduated with afirst class honoursBachelor of Science (BSc) degree. From 1980 to 1981, she studiedmedical statistics at theLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and graduated with aMaster of Science (MSc) degree. From 1981 to 1983, she undertookpostgraduate research in medical statistics at theRoyal Free Hospital School of Medicine and graduated with aDoctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree. Herdoctoral supervisor wasStuart Pocock and herthesis was titled "A statistical investigation of the relationship of serum biochemistry and haematology to alcohol consumption".[2]
Ashby began her academic career as aresearch fellow and honorarylecturer inmedical statistics at theRoyal Free Hospital School of Medicine between September 1983 and September 1986.[2] In 1987, she moved to theUniversity of Liverpool where she was appointed a lecturer. She was promoted tosenior lecturer in 1992.[1] In 1995, she was appointed aReader in Medical Statistics.[2]
She returned to London two years later, in 1997, having been appointedProfessor of Medical Statistics at theBarts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry,Queen Mary University of London.[2] In 2008, she joinedImperial College London as Professor of Medical Statistics andClinical Trials.[1][3] There, she is also the co-director of the Imperial Clinical Trials Unit.[4] In 2018, she was appointed as the Director of the School of Public Health at Imperial.[5] Having been interim dean since August 2023, she has served as dean of Imperial's Faculty of Medicine since 1 January 2024.[6]
Ashby is a member of theInternational Society for Bayesian Analysis. She was a member of its board of directors from 2000 to 2002 and itsExecutive Secretary from 2004 to 2006.[7] She was elected President of theRoyal Statistical Society in 2018, and took up the position on 1 January 2019.[8]
In the2009 New Year Honours, Ashby was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to medicine".[9] In 2012, she was elected aFellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci).[10] Since 2018, she has been an Emeritus Senior Investigator at theNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR).[11] She was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 2025.[12]
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