Programme Leader in Biostatistics Research at the MRC Biostatistics Unit (BSU), Professor Sheila Bird OBE FRSE, has spent the past 35 years applying her statistical skills to a range of areas that have direct public health policy implications, from transplantation to prisoners’ mortality. As she retires from the MRC, she tells us about some of her research highlights, why she chose a career in biostatistics and provides words of wisdom for future biostatisticians.
Career in brief
Part-time PhD while lecturer in statistics at Aberdeen University
Joined the MRC Biostatistics Unit in Cambridge in 1980
Made an MRC programme leader in 1996
Made an OBE in 2011
