Dr Kenneth Hodson MD MBChB MRCP(UK) MRCOG
Head of UK Teratology Information Service
Dr Kenneth Hodson is the head of service and also a consultant obstetrician with a specialist interest in maternal medicine based at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Ken leads specialised clinics for women with cardiac disease and renal disease in pregnancy along with a general maternal medicine clinic each week. Ken trained in both general medicine and obstetrics and gynaecology and has a broad clinical knowledge and experience in the interaction between medical disorders and pregnancy.
Dr Sally Stephens PhD
Assistant Head of UK Teratology Information Service
Sally joined the service in 2005. She oversees the day to day running of UKTIS, liaises with external organisations and provides training in teratology. Sally is an Honorary Associate Fellow at the Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University and is currently serving as the European Network of Teratology Information Services (ENTIS) Secretary.
Prior to joining UKTIS Sally worked as a Research Associate at the Institute for Ageing and Health (now part of the Campus for Ageing and Vitality) in Newcastle upon Tyne. Whilst there she completed her PhD at Newcastle University while working on a six year MRC funded programme grant ‘Vascular factors in late onset dementia and neurodegeneration’.
Dr Luke Richardson PhD
Principal Medical Information Scientist and Data Manager
Luke has worked at UKTIS since 2009, completing a PhD whilst with the service where he investigated novel methods of teratogen surveillance. Prior to joining the service, he completed his undergraduate degree in Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool in 2008. His main research interests include improving UKTIS data collection techniques, international collaborative approaches to data collection through the use of common data models, and developing academic standards in data collection, data synthesis and risk communication for pregnancy pharmacovigilance. Luke is currently working on an international project (IMI ConcePTION) aiming to improve medication in pregnancy data quality, and access to this data for patients and healthcare providers.
Dr Amanda Greenall PhD
Senior Medical Information Scientist
Amanda has worked at UKTIS since 2010. Her roles include writing evidence-based pregnancy reviews for clinicians as well as patient information leaflets about the effects of medicine exposure in pregnancy. Her other interests include research, education, outreach, and risk communication. Prior to working at UKTIS, Amanda was a postdoctoral research associate, studying mechanisms of gene regulation, having completed a Ph.D in 2000 and graduating in 1996 with an honours degree in Genetics.
Mr Nathan George
Senior Medical Information Scientist
Nathan has worked at UKTIS since 2018, before joining the service he worked for the National Poisons Information Service for over 9 years, during this time he achieved a postgraduate diploma in Medical Toxicology.
Prior to this Nathan completed his undergraduate degree in Pharmacology at Newcastle University in 2005 and a brief spell working in a laboratory. His roles at UKTIS include providing expert advice on poisoning in pregnancy and writing evidence-based pregnancy reviews for clinicians. Other interests include research, and risk communication.
Dr Alison Oliver PhD
Senior Medical Information Scientist – ConcePTION
Alison joined UKTIS as a Senior Medical Information Scientist in 2019. Alison is currently participating in the IMI ConcePTION research project, which aims to create an ecosystem to generate and disseminate reliable evidence-based information regarding effects of medications used during pregnancy and breastfeeding to women and their healthcare providers.
Prior to joining the team, Alison spent around ten years working in preclinical therapy development for muscular dystrophy cardiomyopathy and rare disease patient registry development at Newcastle University. She completed her undergraduate degree in physiology at St Andrews university, an MRes in Biomedical research at the University of Strathclyde (during which time she conducted research into the effects of cannabinoids on memory) and her PhD in Neurogenetics at Glasgow University.
