Manu Lema Martinez

I am a DPhil researcher in biostatistics at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS), University of Oxford, and my research is dedicated to developing novel statistical methods and clinical trial designs in psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

My doctoral thesis, supervised by Professor Laura Coates (Oxford), Professor Jonathan Cook (Oxford), Professor James Wason (Newcastle), and Professor Richard Cook (Waterloo), focuses on how best to combine and sequence treatments to achieve sustained disease control in PsA. A central challenge motivating this work is that in modern clinical practice, patient follow-up is increasingly patient-initiated, resulting in variable visit schedules and reliance on remote, digital patient-reported outcomes. My research aims to build a robust statistical framework for valid causal and treatment effect inference under these real-world conditions, drawing on joint modelling approaches and longitudinal data methods. Alongside my DPhil, I have been actively involved in applied PsA research. 

Prior to my DPhil, I completed an MPhil in Statistics with Distinction at Newcastle University, where my thesis examined Bayesian response-adaptive randomisation and optimal participant allocation within a Bayesian framework, with a focus on the small-population trials. I also have professional experience as a statistician in the R&D department of Abbott Diabetes Care, where I contributed to clinical trial analyses and regulatory submissions.