Deborah Ashby
Born	Deborah Davis (1959-08-21) 21 August 1959 (age 64) London, England
Nationality	British
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 OBE FMedSci (née Davis; born 21 August 1959) is a British statistician and academic who specialises in medical statistics and Bayesian statistics. She is the Director of the School of Public Health and Chair in Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials at Imperial College London. She was previously a lecturer then a reader at the University of Liverpool and a professor at Queen Mary University of London.

Early life

Ashby was born Deborah Davis on 21 August 1959 in London, England. She was the only daughter of George Herbert Davis and Jean Davis (née Martin). She was educated at Southend High School for Girls, a grammar school in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.^[1]

From 1977 to 1980, she studied mathematics at the University of Exeter and graduated with a first class honours Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree. From 1980 to 1981, she studied medical statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and graduated with a Master of Science (MSc) degree. From 1981 to 1983, she undertook postgraduate research in medical statistics at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine and graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree. Her doctoral supervisor was Stuart Pocock and her thesis was titled "A statistical investigation of the relationship of serum biochemistry and haematology to alcohol consumption".^[2]

Academic career

Ashby began her academic career as a research fellow and honorary lecturer in medical statistics at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine between September 1983 and September 1986.^[2] In 1987, she moved to the University of Liverpool where she was appointed a lecturer. She was promoted to senior lecturer in 1992.^[1] In 1995, she was appointed a Reader in Medical Statistics.^[2]

She returned to London two years later, in 1997, having been appointed Professor of Medical Statistics at the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.^[2] In 2008, she joined Imperial College London as Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical 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]

Ashby is a member of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis. She was a member of its board of directors from 2000 to 2002 and its Executive Secretary from 2004 to 2006.^[6] She was elected President of the Royal Statistical Society in 2018, and took up the position on 1 January 2019.^[7]

Honours

In the 2009 New Year Honours, Ashby was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to medicine".^[8] In 2012, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci).^[9] Since 2018, she has been an Emeritus Senior Investigator at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).^[10]

Selected works

Eldridge, Sandra; Ashby, Deborah (1999). Statistical Concepts (Master Classes in Primary Care Research). London: Royal College of General Practitioners. ISBN 978-0850842500.
Ashby, Deborah (31 August 2006). "Bayesian statistics in medicine: A 25 year review". Statistics in Medicine. Wiley. 25 (21): 3589–3631. doi:10.1002/sim.2672. PMID 16947924.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "ASHBY, Prof. Deborah". Who's Who 2015. Oxford University Press. November 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Curriculum Vitae - Deborah Ashby" (PDF). EuroPass (pdf). 5 January 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
^ "Professor Deborah Ashby". People. Imperial College London. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
^ "About us". Imperial Clinical Trials Unit. Imperial College London. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
^ "Announcement: Director of the School of Public Health". Imperial College London Announcements Blog. 26 June 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
^ "Professor Deborah Ashby". Honours and Memberships. Imperial College London. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
^ "Deborah Ashby confirmed as new RSS president elect". Statslife. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
^ "No. 58929". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2008. pp. 8–9.
^ "Professor Deborah Ashby OBE FMedSci". Fellows. The Academy of Medical Sciences. 2013. Archived from the original on 1 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
^ "Honours and Memberships - Professor Deborah Ashby". www.imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 January 2022.

v t e Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society
19th century	1834–1836 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1836–1838 Sir Charles Lemon, Bt 1838–1840 The Earl FitzWilliam 1840–1842 Viscount Sandon 1842–1843 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1843–1845 Lord Ashley 1845–1847 The Lord Monteagle of Brandon 1847–1849 The Earl FitzWilliam 1849–1851 The Earl of Harrowby 1851–1853 The Lord Overstone 1853–1855 The Earl FitzWilliam 1855–1857 The Earl of Harrowby 1857–1859 Lord Stanley 1859–1861 Lord John Russell 1861–1863 Sir John Pakington, Bt 1863–1865 William Henry Sykes 1865–1867 The Lord Houghton 1867–1869 William Ewart Gladstone 1869–1871 William Newmarch 1871–1873 William Farr 1873–1875 William Guy 1875–1877 James Heywood 1877–1879 George Shaw-Lefevre 1879–1880 Thomas Brassey 1880–1882 James Caird 1882–1884 Robert Giffen 1884–1886 Rawson W. Rawson 1886–1888 George Goschen 1888–1890 Thomas Graham Balfour 1890–1892 Frederic J. Mouat 1892–1894 Charles Booth 1894–1896 The Lord Farrer 1896–1897 John Biddulph Martin 1897 Alfred Edmund Bateman 1897–1899 Leonard Courtney 1899–1900 Henry Fowler 1900–1902 The Lord Avebury
20th century	1902–1904 Patrick George Craigie 1904–1905 Sir Francis Powell, Bt 1905–1906 The Earl of Onslow 1906–1907 Richard Martin 1907–1909 Sir Charles Dilke, Bt 1909–1910 Jervoise Athelstane Baines 1910–1912 Lord George Hamilton 1912–1914 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1914–1915 The Lord Welby 1915–1916 Lord George Hamilton 1916–1918 Bernard Mallet, Registrar General 1918–1920 Herbert Samuel 1920–1922 R. Henry Rew 1922–1924 The Lord Emmott 1924–1926 Udny Yule 1926–1928 The Viscount D'Abernon 1928–1930 A. William Flux 1930–1932 Sir Josiah Stamp 1932–1934 The Lord Meston 1934–1936 Major Greenwood 1936–1938 The Lord Kennet 1938–1940 Arthur Lyon Bowley 1940–1941 Henry William Macrosty 1941 Hector Leak 1941–1943 William Beveridge 1943–1945 Ernest Charles Snow 1945–1947 The Lord Woolton 1947–1949 David Heron 1949–1950 Sir Geoffrey Heyworth 1950–1952 Austin Bradford Hill 1952–1954 Ronald Fisher 1954–1955 The Lord Piercy 1955–1957 Egon Pearson 1957–1959 Harry Campion 1959–1960 Hugh Beaver 1960–1962 Maurice Kendall 1962–1964 Joseph Oscar Irwin 1964–1965 Sir Paul Chambers 1965–1966 L. H. C. Tippett 1966–1967 M. S. Bartlett 1967–1968 Frank Yates 1968–1969 Arthur Cockfield 1969–1970 R. G. D. Allen 1970–1971 Bernard Benjamin 1971–1972 George Alfred Barnard 1972–1973 Harold Wilson 1973–1974 D. J. Finney 1974–1975 Henry Daniels 1975–1977 Stella Cunliffe 1977–1978 Henry Wynn 1978–1980 Sir Claus Moser 1980–1982 David Cox 1982–1984 Peter Armitage 1984–1985 Walter Bodmer 1985–1986 John Nelder 1986–1987 James Durbin 1987–1989 John Kingman 1989–1991 Peter G. Moore 1991–1993 T. M. F. Smith 1993–1995 D. J. Bartholomew 1995–1997 Adrian Smith 1997–1999 Robert Nicholas Curnow 1999–2001 Denise Lievesley
21st century	2001–2003 Peter Green 2003–2005 Andy Grieve 2005–2007 Tim Holt 2008–2009 David Hand 2010–2010 Bernard Silverman (resigned Feb 2010; replaced pro tem by David Hand) 2011–2012 Valerie Isham 2013–2014 John Pullinger 2014–2016 Peter Diggle 2017–2018 David Spiegelhalter 2019– Deborah Ashby
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