Research
Prof Thangaratinam's research focuses on improving the health of women and their babies in the UK and globally. Through clinical trials, state-of-the-art evidence synthesis like individual participant data meta-analysis, living systematic reviews, network metanalysis, and diagnostic and prognostic research, she addresses the major causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity such as prediction and prevention of complications like gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, seizures in mothers with epilepsy; lifestyle interventions like diet and physical activity; maternity safety and addressing race and ethnic inequalities; and public health problems like obesity and multimorbidity.
Almost all her research is built on extensive multidisciplinary partnerships spanning regions and countries. She leads global research networks such as IPPIC (International Prediction of Complications, 21 countries, 5.5M pregnancies; 100M data points), i-WIP (International Weight management in Pregnancy; 16 countries; 60K pregnancies) and PregCOV-19 (Pregnancy and Covid-19) that provided living databases and platforms to maximise research efficiency and minimise research waste. Within the UK, many of her clinical trials involve 30-50 maternity units, with partnerships spanning NHS Trusts and Universities. As lead for the NIHR BRC theme, she worked closely with basic and experimental science researchers, and industry partners. More than 130 policy documents cite her work, which have directly contributed to national and global recommendations.
261 full papers in peer-reviewed journals; h-index 67; 29,522 citations (Since 2020: h-index 60; 21,550 citations) Google ScholarORCID
Research grants
ACORN: A multi-site randomised COntrolled trial to evaluate the impact of a group tReatment for aNtenatal anxiety
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK)
September 2023 - August 2027
NIHR Senior investigator award - Renewal
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK)
April 2024 - March 2029
Optimising outcomes in pregnant women with epilepsy and their babies: Reducing maternal seizure risks and assessing long-term safety of antiepileptic drugs (EpiSafe)
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK)
June 2023 - May 2028