Meet the Natsal-4 Team

Pam Sonnenberg is Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at UCL and Consultant in Public Health Medicine. She is Principal Investigator (PI) for Natsal-4 and the Natsal Resource.

Pam is co-Director of the Centre for Population Research in Sexual Health and HIV in the Institute for Global Health. Pam is well recognised for leading multi-disciplinary teams that produce innovative research that has clinical, public health and policy relevance; links behaviour and biology; spans developed and developing countries; and is both methodological and applied.

Rob is a Professor of Public Health Data Science and Wellcome Trust Clinical  Research Career Development Fellow in UCL's Institute of Health Informatics. Rob's research aims to equitably improve the health of the public through the  application of data science and public health research. He leads on the data  linkage work for Natsal-4. Taking a less typical route to public health research,  Rob studied Mechanical Engineering and worked in management consultancy  before qualifying in medicine from UCL in 2007. He then went on to do an MSc  in Epidemiology at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and  completed his PhD in infectious disease epidemiology at UCL. Rob is also Chief  Investigator for the Virus Watch equity study and has undertaken a range of  analyses to inform the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ana Carolina de Barros is a Research Associate in the School of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. She is a social psychologist with an interest in work on sexual and relationship diversity. In the Natsal-4 team, she is an analyst on projects related to sexual functioning, and on sexual functioning and wellbeing within relationships.

Chris is Professor of Public Health Sociology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Prior to this, he has had Professorship roles at UCL and the University of Oxford and has been a Research Team Leader in the UK government’s Social Exclusion Unit. His main areas of research are on adolescent health, sexual health and evaluation methodology. His research on adolescent health focuses on how schools and school-based interventions can benefit or harm young people’s health and his research on sexual health examines the broader social factors of adolescent sexual health behaviours and outcomes, and interventions to address these. He is a NIHR Senior Investigator and a participant on various SAGE subcommittees advising government on COVID-19.

Sarah Bourdin is a Research Assistant and PhD Student working with the Natsal-4 and NIHR Policy Research Unit in Reproductive Health (RH-PRU) team on the NIHR Advanced Fellowship "REPROLINK: Health data science to measure inequalities in reproductive health". Her focus is on using mixed methodologies to investigate the use of Natsal-4 and linked datasets for understanding inequalities in contraception use, specifically non-traditional methods (fertility awareness based-methods, emergency contraception and withdrawal). This includes analysis of linked Natsal-4, Department of Education and Census data as well as deliberation and co-production with underserved groups. She is also working across several other Natsal-4 papers on trans and gender diverse individuals, young people's sex education and mental health.

Soazig is a survey methodologist and epidemiologist, and as Natsal’s Academic Director, has a joint post with UCL, the University of Glasgow and the National Centre for Social Research. She has over 20 years’ experience in the design, delivery, analysis, publication and dissemination of large-scale general population health research, with a focus on sexual behaviour and sexual health in Britain. Soazig joined the Natsal team in 2008 to work on Natsal-3 and has since overseen the questionnaire development and testing, and survey implementation.

Andrew is a statistician jointly in UCL's Institute for Global Health and the MRC Clinical Trials Unit, and he provides statistical oversight for Natsal. He is Director of the Centre for Pragmatic Global Health Trials and his main research interest is in the design of cluster randomised trials. He has contributed to the design and analysis of earlier Natsal surveys, and several other important studies in infectious disease epidemiology including FluWatch. He is involved in three major ongoing COVID-19 research studies: the VIVALDI study in British care homes, Viruswatch, and the COG-HOCI study of hospital acquired infection.

Danielle Solomon is part of the reproductive health team within Natsal-4. She is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine, and an Honorary Senior Clinical Fellow at the Institute for Global Health, University College London. She holds a medical degree from Oxford University, a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health from UCL. Danielle's research focuses on unmet need within sexual and reproductive health, with a particular focus on access to contraception and abortion.

Alexandra is a Health of the Public PhD student in the Institute for Global Health, funded by UCL-Birkbeck MRC DTP.

PhD project: How does the vaginal microbiome vary among women in the general British population by sociodemographic, behavioural, and clinical characteristics and how does this inform interventions to address poor sexual health?

Microbes inhabit our bodies and play an important role in our health and disease. There is increasing evidence that the collection of microbes and their genetic material (the microbiome) in the female genital tract has an impact on sexual and reproductive health, including risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Using Natsal-4 data, my research aims to 1) explore and map out the variation of the vaginal microbiome in the British population, 2) understand factors associated with vaginal microbiome disturbances, and 3) explore how a range of sexual health outcomes vary by microbiome patterns. I hope that findings may inform clinical guidelines and new therapeutic interventions that address imbalances in the vaginal microbiome, with the aim, ultimately, of lowering the burden of poor sexual health.

Nigel joined the Natsal team in 2008, and now leads the STI testing and the Biobank Resource for Natsal-4. He is an Associate Clinical Professor within the UCL Institute for Global Health where he is Director of the Centre for Molecular Epidemiology and Translational Research. He is Co-Principal Investigator with Professor Kirstin Mitchell on the Natsal COVID study.

Claudia is a Research Fellow in Epidemiology at UCL's Institute for Global Health, working on projects related to sexual and reproductive health. She is also currently undertaking her PhD as part of the UCL-Birkbeck Medical Research Council doctoral training programme, focusing on reproductive-related mood disorders. Claudia is co-first author and lead analyst on the Natsal-4 Reproductive Health paper, and also supports Natsal-4 papers on HPV and cervical screening and sexual wellbeing.

Jo is a Senior Clinical Research Associate in UCL's Institute for Global Health at UCL and an Honorary Consultant in Sexual Health & HIV at Mortimer Market Centre. Her research interests include digital health, developing and evaluating complex interventions, health service delivery and public health. Her current research focus is on the development and evaluation of online clinical care pathways from diagnostics to online management of STIs and HIV, understanding the complex legislation and regulation in this area, and the impact of remote service delivery on health inequalities.

Ilsa is an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow at UCL’s Institute for Global Health, and Speciality Registrar in Public Health at the London School of Public Health. Her research focuses on infectious disease and vaccine epidemiology. As part of Natsal-4, she is leading an analysis of sexual health vaccine uptake among men who have sex with men, with the aim of informing policy to promote equitable vaccine uptake.

Wendy is an Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and has worked on the second and third Natsal surveys. Her experience includes research into the determinants of sexual health, the development of interventions to improve and promote sexual health and the evaluation of public health interventions. Wendy works on the NIHR Policy Research Programme Reviews Facility, which supports national policy development and evaluation and she is also a Programme Director for the MSc in Public Health at LSHTM.

A statistician and demographer by training, Professor Cath Mercer has played an instrumental role in the Natsal studies since 2000, having previously led the statistical analyses for Natsal-2 and Natsal-3 and overseen the delivery of Natsal-3 with Pam. Cath’s expertise lies in developing and employing robust methods that advance the scientific study of sexual behaviour and generate evidence that impacts sexual health policy and practice for minority groups through to the general population. Cath is also passionate about public engagement, ensuring the impacts of her research benefit the people with whom it is undertaken, as well as the general public more broadly.

Kirstin is Professor of Social Science and Public Health in the Institute for Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. She is an inter-disciplinary social scientist focused on intimate relationships and health. She is the Natsal study site-lead for University of Glasgow as well as leading on qualitative research across the Natsal study. On the Natsal-4 survey she leads on modules focused on sexual attitudes, sexual function and sexual wellbeing, including the development of the Natsal Sexual Wellbeing measure, having previously led the development of the Natsal-SF (sexual function measure). She is also Co-Principal Investigator (with Professor Nigel Field) on the Natsal-COVID study.

Luke (he/him) is a DPhil student in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, and a part-time Research Assistant in Epidemiology with the Natsal team, leading on work relating to transgender, non-binary and gender diverse sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing.

Luke’s training spans health data science and the social sciences. He holds a BSc in Medical Sciences with Mathematics, Computers & Medicine from UCL and an MPhil in Population Health Sciences from the University of Cambridge, as well as an MA in Sociology from Birkbeck, University of London.

Before joining Natsal-4 in 2024, Luke worked at the World Health Organisation, specialising in the health and rights of intersex, transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people. Luke’s doctoral project, funded by a Medical Research Council (MRC) Enterprise (iCASE) Studentship, focuses on optimising transitions from child and adolescent to adult mental health services in the UK, continuing his broader interest in using research to create equitable health systems.

Elise is a Senior Research Fellow in Data Management and Analysis at UCL's Institute for Global Health. She leads data management and analysis for Natsal-4, including the harmonisation, documentation and archiving of its complex survey datasets, and coordinates analytical work across the research team.

Her research uses large-scale population data to understand health and behaviour, with particular interests in sexual attitudes, mental health and inequalities. Before joining Natsal, Elise led analyses for the UCL COVID-19 Social Study and worked on suicide prevention and mental health at the World Health Organisation.

Raquel is a PhD student at University of Glasgow.

PhD project: Understanding Young People’s Sexual Wellbeing

Sexual wellbeing is integral to psychological wellness and good sexual health. It concerns sexual emotions and cognitions that include feeling safe, respected, comfortable, confident, autonomous, secure, and able to work through change, challenge and past trauma. Priorities for sexual wellbeing differ across the life-course. Young people (16-24) face unique developmental tasks in relation to their sexuality. In this PhD Raquel draws on a qualitative multi-modal approach involving a qualitative evidence synthesis, repeat interviews and diary methods to explore youth sexual wellbeing. Raquel considers how sexual wellbeing is shaped by formative experiences, and how these influence future expectations of sexual wellbeing.

Zohar is an Epidemiology and Public Health PhD Student with the Soc-B Centre for Doctoral Training in Biosocial Research at UCL.

PhD project: From metagenomics to metadata: understanding the social context of vaginal microbiome health at different stages in the reproductive life course

Zohar's PhD aims to connect the context of individuals' lives with the ecosystem inside their bodies. Zohar's PhD will focus on the composition of the vaginal microbiome in women in the UK at different life stages, and how contraception and sexual behaviour may be associated with the vaginal microbiome. Zohar plans to share findings from her research with the public in a co-produced project (more to come soon!), and hopes that highlighting the importance of considering contextual social and behavioural factors will help encourage other researchers to take these factors into account. Zohar also hopes that her findings using Natsal's data will contribute to the body of evidence clinicians can draw from when counseling patients about their vaginal health.

Gillian is Deputy Chief Executive at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and Director of NatCen's Social Surveys Department. She leads a large team of researchers, data specialists and operational staff, including NatCen’s interviewers and biomedical fieldworkers. She oversees the design, management and delivery of NatCen’s portfolio of social surveys in a wide range of policy areas, including housing, finance, health and transport.

Gillian has spent her career in applied social research and has over 25 years’ experience of managing social surveys and leading research teams. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a trustee of the Social Research Association.

Clare is an Epidemiologist with an interest in adolescence and expertise in sexual and reproductive health and violence against children. She has worked on large-scale surveys and school-based interventions and her research has been both in the UK and overseas. She is currently working on trials of school-based interventions to reduce violence in schools and to improve menstrual health management in Uganda. Clare has been an integral part of the Natsal team since 2008 and now leads on the sexual violence module for Natsal-4.

Billie joined the team in 2026 ahead of the Natsal-4 launch, supporting the coordination of all aspects of knowledge mobilisation and stakeholder engagement to ensure Natsal-4 research evidence informs policy, practice, and public understanding of sexual and reproductive health.

Billie previously worked with the Natsal team at the University of Glasgow on research exploring sexual wellbeing, particularly in young people. Before moving into academia, she worked as a sexual health improvement practitioner in a local authority and as a relationships and sex education specialist at Brook, delivering programmes across schools and youth services.

Based in Sweden, Magnus directs the WHO Collaborating Centre for Gonorrhoea and other STIs, and the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Sexually Transmitted Infections, Örebro University Hospital. His main research focuses on Neisseria gonorrhoeae and other bacterial STIs. He joined the Natsal-4 team to advise on the development and delivery of Natsal's STI testing and Biobank Resource.