Lyuba Bozhilova

As a data scientist, I am broadly interested in the uncertainties and biases associated with biomedical data, and how these can impact downstream analysis. In my current role I study clinical risk factors associated with fetal compromise. I am especially interested in how these change over time, and how we can use them to help clinicians make better-informed decisions during pregnancy and labour.

For example, we know the number of unplanned and emergency C-sections in the UK has been steadily increasing over the past twenty years. While these procedures can be essential and life-saving, they are not always medically necessary. Using big data, we can build prognostic models to help predict which cases are more likely to require operative interventions, as well as to identify pregnancies which may benefit from closer monitoring both before and during labour.