Team

ECLIPS is led by Northumbria University in partnership with the UK Health Security Agency, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, University of Bristol, University of Oxford, University of Warwick, and the Health & Safety Laboratory Executive. Our team includes experts in environmental science, health, epidemiology, and economics.

Convened under the auspices of UKHSA and reporting to the LEPHIS Steering Group, the ECLIPS working group was established in 2021. The study team has built respect and trust, and organically developed an approach that facilitates interdisciplinary working across its members, valuing, enabling and celebrating integration of the disciplines

Study Team

Emily Bird

Principal Toxicologist at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

I have a background in public health and chemical risk assessment, particularly focusing on chemicals and pollutants found in the environment. I work primarily on the application of human biomonitoring, with the aim of understanding the health effects of chemicals at different exposure levels and within various populations. In my role I also provide authoritative advice to the UK Government on the human health effects of exposure to chemicals found in contaminated land, drinking water and from waste management processes.

Lindsay Bramwell

Senior Research Fellow, Northumbria University

I have a background in analytical chemistry, contaminated land investigation, and public health risk assessment. This led me to research how people are exposed to harmful chemicals like lead through their environments, food, and air. My current work includes measuring chemicals in people and homes, measuring air quality, assessing health risks and involving communities in science. I also explore how climate change might affect exposure to these chemicals.

Francis J. DiTraglia

Associate Professor of Economics at University of Oxford

I am an Applied Econometrician, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford, a Tutor and Fellow in Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, and a visiting researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. My research uses data to answer economic and public policy questions and develops statistical methods for untangling cause-and-effect. My recent and ongoing research includes a project that estimates the prevalence of lead exposure in Illinois, an experimental study of pawn lending in Mexico City.

Jane Entwistle

Professor of Environmental Geochemistry and Health at Northumbria University

I am interested in understanding our exposure to harmful chemicals in the environment, such as in soils, dusts and air, and ways to reduce this exposure. My research addresses problems at the interface between geochemistry and human health and evidences my commitment to improve environmental practice, policy and decision making in a complex real-world environment.

Ludovica Gazze

Associate Professor at the University of Warwick Department of Economics

I am an Environmental and health economist. I also work as invited researcher at JPAL (KCAI and North America programs), a CEPR Research Affiliate in the Climate Change and the Environment Programme, as IZA Research Fellow, and as Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. I obtained my PhD in economics from MIT and have co-authored several articles in economics and public health on sources of lead exposure and its social cost. My research uses both experimental and quasi-experimental methods, and leverages both survey and administrative data.

Carys Lipiatt

Consultant Clinical Scientist at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust

I work as a Consultant Clinical Scientist in Biochemistry and clinical lead of the Toxicology and Supraregional Assay Service (SAS) Associated trace elements laboratory at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTHT) NHS Trust. I am member of the UKHSA Lead Exposure, Public Health Intervention and Surveillance (LEPHIS) Steering Group, a member of the Association for Laboratory Medicine (ALM) and a member of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) Academy. My main interests are biochemical markers of toxicity, lead toxicity in infants and childhood, technical and clinical validation of biomarkers and their clinical use in patient pathways.

Priya Mondal

Principal Epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

I work as an environmental epidemiologist working in environmental determinants of human health. With an environmental public health background my areas of expertise encompass global health, epidemiology, toxicology, global health risk assessment, and risk perceptions. I have successfully drawn on work from different fields of environmental sciences, with particular interest in the effects of arsenic contamination on human health, biomarkers of arsenic exposure, and identification of molecular and physiological mechanisms of arsenic toxicity. Certain outcomes had major societal impacts and were paradigm-challenging papers relevant to risk communication for management and policy development.

Jackie Morton

Principal Scientist Biological Monitoring at HSE Science and Research Centre

I am a principal scientist within the Biological Monitoring Team. Current projects include the determination of background levels of a wide range trace elements in urine samples and developing speciation methods for biological monitoring uses.

Raashika Moudgill

Research Assistant at University of Warwick

I’m an economist with research interests in labour markets, environmental exposures, and public health. My work focuses on applying quantitative methods to understand how structural inequalities shape economic and health outcomes. I have previously worked on economic and policy research in India—analysing large-scale household survey data on employment and income trends at the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, and supporting impact evaluation using NFHS data at Young Lives. I hold an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick and a Postgraduate Diploma in Economics from the Gokhale Institute.

Tim Pye

Co-founder of LEAPP Alliance

I have a degree in biological sciences and am retired from a career in ecological research, pharmaceuticals, IT systems, and business intelligence. After dry sanding old lead paint, I discovered I had elevated blood lead levels. Learning about lead exposure and its health effects shocked me, and I began campaigning for better lead risk management in the UK. I worked with the international LEAD Group and co-founded the LEAPP Alliance. I later joined the UKHSA LEPHIS Steering Group, which prioritized a prevalence study that led to ECLIPS.

Kishor Raja

Consultant scientist at Synnovis and King’s College London

I am a consultant clinical scientist based in the department of Clinical Biochemistry, with a special interest in trace elements (TE, including Lead) and the clinical impact deficiency/excess has on body/health. I am director of the SAAS designated trace element lab at King’s, and chairs the sub-committee meetings (for directors/deputies of SAAS TE labs and leads from the associate TE labs). I also work as an invited member to Lead Exposure Public Health Intervention and Surveillance (LEPHIS) Steering Group, UKNEQAS: Specialist Advisory Group (SAG) for Trace Elements, and the Wilson Disease Special Interest Group.

Ovnair Sepai

Principal Toxicologist at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

I specialize in human biomonitoring and the health effects of environmental exposures. I have led national and international projects on pollutants and chemicals, advising the UK Government on pollution in land, water, and waste. My role includes advising UK Government on the impact of chemical pollution in land, drinking water and waste management processes. I am a passionate advocate for sustainable practices and the integration of scientific research into public health policies.

Joe Shimwell

Senior Lecturer and Science Communication Expert at Northumbria University

I am a science communicator and educator with interests in environmental science, climate change and how this impacts humans. I work across a wide variety of projects that support the public to engage with various aspects of science that affect their lives. These projects range from direct engagement with the public at schools and wider events, to more subtle engagement where we develop methods and tools to help people better understand environmental science.

Caroline Taylor

Associate Professor in Nutrition at University of Bristol

I am an academic nutritionist with research interests in maternal and child nutrition. My main project - the PEAR (Pregnancy, the Envionment And nutRition) Study - concerns dietary exposures to toxic metals in pregnancy, funded by an MRC Career Development Award (2020-2025). Additional projects that I lead include studies on preschool child eating behaviour (picky eating) and on the effect of early nutrition on health and development outcomes such as obesity.

Angela Bayona-Valderrama

Research Fellow, Northumbria University

I have a background in biology, water quality management, and public health. I hold a PhD in Public Health Engineering from the University of Leeds. My research focuses on the monitoring of everyday contaminants mostly at the household level, and the derived population health risks from exposure to pollutants at the home.

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