Mr Lee Middleton BSc (Hons), MSc

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Reader in Clinical Trials
Statistics Team Leader

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 415 9108
Email: l.j.middleton@bham.ac.uk

Address: Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit
Public Health Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Lee Middleton is Reader in Clinical Trials and Statistics Team Leader at the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU) in the School of Health Sciences.

Lee’s main research interests are in the design, conduct and analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). He is the lead methodologist and statistician on a portfolio of clinical trials in obstetrics, gynaecology and intraoperative care, assessing medical, surgical and complex interventions.

His research has been published in various high impact scientific journals (NEJM, Lancet, BMJ) and he is a co-applicant on numerous grants funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funding streams (HTA, EME and RfPB) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Qualifications

MSc in Statistics, University of Kent, 2001
BSc (Hons) in Mathematics, University of Manchester, 1998

Biography

Lee qualified with a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics from the University of Manchester in 1998 and later and went on to study for an MSc in Statistics at the University of Kent which was awarded in 2001.

Following his Masters award, Lee’s first role was in industry as a Statistician for Syngenta (formerly Zeneca Agrochemicals) where he provided statistical support on the design, analysis and interpretation of toxicological and pre-clinical studies.

Lee then joined BCTU as Medical Statistician in 2007 and progressed to Senior Statistician and later Statistics Team Leader. He is now responsible for the trial design, statistical conduct, presentation and dissemination of a diverse portfolio of high quality late phase RCTs.

Teaching

Masters in Clinical Trials (Module Lead for Rationale for Clinical Trials, Key Concepts and Features)
Masters in Public Health (Clinical Trials module)
BCTU’s CPD approved Research Methods Course

Research

Through his work on over 20 successfully funded NIHR grants, Lee had developed a wealth of practical experience in various clinical trial designs including: pilot and feasibility studies, surgical trials including expertise-based designs, factorial trials, non-inferiority approaches, cluster-randomised trials, comprehensive cohort designs, and trials of tests. He also has an interest in diagnostic studies and individual patient data meta-analysis.

Other activities

Statistical reviewer for BJOG and National Institute for Health Research (HTA, EME)
Independent statistician on numerous Trial Steering and Data Monitoring Committees contributing to the oversight and direction of externally run clinical trials.
Advisor at the NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) delivered by the University of Birmingham and Partners

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Williams, EV, Goranitis, I, Oppong, R, Perry, SJ, Devall, AJ, Martin, JT, Mammoliti, K-M, Beeson, LE, Sindhu, KN, Galadanci, H, Al-beity, FA, Qureshi, Z, Hofmeyr, GJ, Moran, N, Fawcus, S, Mandondo, S, Middleton, L, Hemming, K, Oladapo, OT, Gallos, ID, Coomarasamy, A & Roberts, TE 2024, 'A cost-effectiveness analysis of early detection and bundled treatment of postpartum haemorrhage alongside the E-MOTIVE trial', Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03069-5

Cooper, KG, Bhattacharya, S, Daniels, JP, Horne, AW, Clark, TJ, Saridogan, E, Cheed, V, Pirie, D, Melyda, M, Monahan, M, Roberts, TE, Cox, E, Stubbs, C, Middleton, LJ & PRE-EMPT Collaborative Group 2024, 'Long acting progestogens versus combined oral contraceptive pill for preventing recurrence of endometriosis related pain: the PRE-EMPT pragmatic, parallel group, open label, randomised controlled trial', BMJ open, vol. 385, e079006. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-079006

ACTIVE Consortium, Schranz, P, Mandalia, V & O’brien, S 2023, 'A randomized trial of autologous chondrocyte implantation versus alternative forms of surgical cartilage management in patients with a failed primary treatment for chondral or osteochondral defects in the knee', American Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 367-378. https://doi.org/10.1177/03635465221141907

GEM3 Collaborative Group 2023, 'Combination of gefitinib and methotrexate to treat tubal ectopic pregnancy (GEM3): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial', The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02478-3

GEM3 Collaborative Group 2023, 'Gefitinib and methotrexate to resolve tubal ectopic pregnancy: the GEM3 RCT', Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation, vol. 10, no. 1. https://doi.org/0.3310/NNZF1037

Antoun, L, Middleton, L, Smith, P, Saridogan, E, Cooper, K, Brocklehurst, P, McKinnon, W, Bevan, S, Woolley, R, Jones, L, Fullard, J, Morgan, M, Roberts, T & Clark, TJ 2023, 'LAparoscopic Versus Abdominal hysterectomy (LAVA): protocol of a randomised controlled trial', BMJ open, vol. 13, no. 9, e070218. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-070218

Martin, J, Middleton, L & Hemming, K 2023, 'Minimisation for the design of parallel cluster-randomised trials: An evaluation of balance in cluster-level covariates and numbers of clusters allocated to each arm', Clinical Trials, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 111–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/17407745221149104

Paudyal, V, Lowrie, R, Mair, FS, Middleton, L, Cheed, V, Hislop, J, Williamson, A, Barnes, N, Jolly, K, Saunders, K, Allen, N, Jagpal, P, Provan, G, Ross, S, Hunter, C, Tearne, S, McPherson, A, Heath, H, Lombard, C, Araf, A, Dixon, E, Hatch, A, Moir, J & Akhtar, S 2023, 'Protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial to evaluate integrated support from pharmacist independent prescriber and third sector worker for people experiencing homelessness: the PHOENIx community pharmacy study', Pilot and Feasibility Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-023-01261-x

Gallos, I, Devall, A, Martin, J, Middleton, L, Beeson, L, Galadanci, H, Alwy al-Beity, F, Qureshi, Z, Hofmeyr, GJ, Moran, N, Fawcus, S, Sheikh, L, Gwako, G, Osoti, A, Aswat, A, Mammoliti, K, Sindhu, KN, Podesek, M, Horne, I, Timms, R, Yunas, I, Okore, J, Singata-Madliki, M, Arends, E, Wakili, AA, Mwampashi, A, Nausheen, S, Muhammad, S, Latthe, P, Evans, C, Akter, S, Forbes, G, Lissauer, D, Meher, S, Weeks, A, Shennan, A, Ammerdorffer, A, Williams, E, Roberts, T, Widmer, M, Oladapo, OT, Lorencatto, F, Bohren, MA, Miller, S, Althabe, F, Gülmezoglu, M, Smith, JM, Hemming, K & Coomarasamy, A 2023, 'Randomized Trial of Early Detection and Treatment of Postpartum Hemorrhage', New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 389, no. 1, pp. 11-21. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2303966

Shelley, B, Goebel, A, Grant, S, Jackson, L, Jarrett, H, Jepson, M, Kerr, A, Marczin, N, Mehta, R, Melody, T, Middleton, L, Naidu, B, Szentgyorgyi, L, Tearne, S, Watkins, B, Wilson, M, Worrall, A, Yeung, J & Smith, FG 2023, 'Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of thoracic epidural and paravertebral blockade in reducing chronic post-thoracotomy pain: 2 (TOPIC 2)', Trials, vol. 24, no. 1, 748. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-023-07463-1

Whitaker, LHR, Middleton, LJ, Daniels, JP, Williams, ARW, Priest, L, Odedra, S, Cheed, V, Stubbs, CE, Clark, TJ, Lumsden, M, Hapangama, DK, Bhattacharya, S, Smith, PP, Nicholls, EP, Roberts, N, Semple, SI, Saraswat, L, Walker, J, Chodankar, RR & Critchley, HOD 2023, 'Ulipristal acetate versus levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system for heavy menstrual bleeding (UCON): a randomised controlled phase III trial', EClinicalMedicine, vol. 60, pp. 101995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101995

Morton, V, Toozs-Hobson, P, Moakes, C, Moakes, C, Middleton, L, Daniels, J, Simpson, NAB, Shennan, A, Israfil-Bayli, F, Ewer, A, Gray, J, Slack, M, Norman, JE, Lees, C, Tryposkiadis, K, Hughes, M, Brocklehurst, P & Morris, RK 2022, 'Monofilament suture versus braided suture thread to improve pregnancy outcomes after vaginal cervical cerclage (C-STICH): a pragmatic randomised, controlled, phase 3, superiority trial', The Lancet, vol. 400, no. 10361, pp. 1426-1436. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01808-6

FEMME Trial Collaborative Group 2022, 'Uterine artery embolization or myomectomy for women with uterine fibroids: four-year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial', European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology X, vol. 13, 100139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurox.2021.100139

Israfil-Bayli, F, Morton, VH, Hewitt, CA, Ewer, AK, Gray, J, Norman, J, Lees, C, Simpson, NAB, Shennan, A, Tryposkiadis, K, Hughes, M, Daniels, J, Brocklehurst, P, Morris, K, Middleton, L & Toozs-Hobson, P 2021, 'C-STICH: Cerclage Suture Type for an Insufficient Cervix and its effect on Health outcomes—a multicentre randomised controlled trial', Trials, vol. 22, no. 1, 664. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-021-05629-3

Middleton, LJ 2021, 'Falling in the margin: Randomised controlled trials with a non-inferiority design', BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, vol. 128, no. 12, pp. 1916. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16702

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