Born in Glasgow in 1967, I graduated from Paisley University in 1988 with an Honours degree in Mathematical Sciences. In 1993 I obtained an MSc by research from the University of Aberdeen, and in 1997 was awarded Chartered Statistician status. I was awarded my PhD from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2006 and a personal Chair in 2009, and I am also an assistant Professor at the School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania. I have worked as a statistician, primarily in the field of health services research at University of Aberdeen, the Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh and the Department of Public Health, Ayrshire and Arran Health Board, where I undertook my first continence-related research in 1995. Since 1996 I have worked at the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University, funded by the Scottish Government, directing a programme of research on pelvic health. My research has focused largely on the non-surgical management of prolapse and urinary incontinence, involving systematic reviews (e.g. Cochrane reviews and overviews, International Consultation on Incontinence), multi-centre randomised controlled trials and cohort studies (e.g. POPPY, PREVPROL, OPAL, ProLong) and implementation studies (e.g. PROPEL, UR-CHOICE), which have been award winning (ICS 2011, 2014, 2021, 2022) and influenced clinical guidelines such as those of the German, Swiss & Austrian Societies of Gynaecology & Obstetrics and the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.