Olivia Cottam

I joined the EndoCaRe group and the Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health in October 2025 as a part-time DPhil Student. I am also a Senior Analytical Toxicologist at the UK Health Security Agency, based at Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire.

My project focuses on the role of metals in the occurrence and severity of endometriosis. As part of this project, I will focus on assessing both exposures to toxic metals and deficiencies in essential metals through the analysis of biological samples collected from cohorts in the UK and from participants within the COHERE cohort in Cyprus. My project is supervised by Professor Krina Zondervan, Dr Nilufer Rahmioglu, Professor Christian Becker at NDWRH and Dr Timothy Marczylo, and Dr Adam Laycock at the UKHSA.

I have specialised in inorganic analytical chemistry for over 8 years, and I have worked in pharmaceuticals, and agrochemicals before starting my public health focused role at the UKHSA. 

My work at the UKHSA focuses on assessing inorganic exposures, such as those to lead and cadmium, in both individual cases referred from the NHS and in larger-scale biomonitoring studies.