Maja Nikšić

About

I am a senior epidemiologist, psychologist, and a public health scientist. I am passionate about developing innovative research projects to improve public health outcomes in the UK and worldwide.

I am a member of the AHEAD Research Group (Achieving HEalth insights from Administrative Data) at the CHSS. One of the aims of this group is to develop an efficient system by which university researchers may access anonymised administrative linked datasets from the health and local government sectors in Kent and Medway to carry out research.
I am involved in the Health Determinants Research Collaboration Project, led by the Medway Council, in collaboration with the University of Kent, focusing on co-creating, embedding, and acting on research evidence to reduce health inequalities.

Background

Prior to joining CHSS in 2022, I worked as a research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, at King’s College London, as a research scientist at the University of Oxford, and psychologist in a few psychiatric hospitals. I have over 10 years of teaching, tutoring and supervisory experience, covering modules focused on epidemiology, public health, clinical communication, and statistics.

Research interests

My knowledge and experience are multi-disciplinary. My interests are diverse, ranging from understanding socio-economic inequalities in health care outcomes, especially cancer incidence and survival, improving health prevention interventions and public cancer symptom awareness, and investigating patterns of comorbidities. I am an experienced quantitative and mixed methods researcher, with extensive experience in research design, survey development, analysing large data sets and linking different databases. I have worked on several national and international randomised controlled trials. The trials addressed public health topics such as understanding the role of nutrition in anti-social behaviour, reducing infant mortality, or improving micronutrient deficiencies during pregnancy and childhood.

Teaching

Convenor module MA5952: Understanding and Synthesising Research, part of the Year in Data Analytics.

Clinical Communication Skills at Kent and Medway Medical School.

Professional

Graduate Statistician G(Stat) member of the Royal Statistical Society