Professor Stephen Walters BSc, PGCE, MSc, PhD, CStat.
Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials

ScHARR
The University of Sheffield
Regent Court
30 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 4DA
Tel: (+44) (0)114 222 0730
Fax: (+44) (0)114 272 4095
email : s.j.walters@sheffield.ac.uk
Biography
I graduated with a degree in Mathematics and Economics. This was followed by a PGCE and an MSc in Medical Statistics and Information Technology. My PhD involved using computer intensive statistical methods for estimating sample sizes and analysing quality of life outcomes. I joined ScHARR in January 1995. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003; Reader in 2008 and to a Personal Chair in 2009. I was appointed Director of the new Design, Trials and Statistics section in ScHARR in August 2012.
I have over 19 years´ experience of designing, analysing and reporting the results of a variety of studies including, randomised controlled trials, observational studies and surveys. I have written over 200 publications (including 118 in refereed journals and 3 books). I have been a co-applicant, statistical advisor and collaborator on over 50 health services research projects.
Research Interests
My research interests are
- Design, Analysis and Interpretation of studies with Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) outcome measures. See 'Quality of life outcomes in clinical trials and health care evaluation: a practical guide to analysis and interpretation'.
- Computer intensive methods – the bootstrap.
- Health Services Research and Technology Assessment.
- Cluster RCTs and clustering by health professional in individually randomised trials.
- Study design and sample size determination.
Teaching Interests
I have developed several courses on teaching medical statistics to medical and health science students, clinicians and allied health professionals. I have also co-authored two textbooks: 'Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences' and 'How to Display Data'.
I co-ordinate and teach on HAR6035 `An Introduction to Statistics and Critical Appraisal´ module on the Master of Public Health programme and the distance learning version (HAR6042). I also teach on several other courses including: HAR674 Randomised Controlled Trials; MAS6062 Bayesian Methods and Clinical Trials.
Professional activities
- Member of the Medical Research Council Strategic Skills Fellowship Panel.
- Member of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Clinical Evaluation and Trials Board.
- Independent statistician member on several data and safety monitoring committees.
- Member of the International Advisory Board for the journal of Quality of Life Research.
- Member of the Editorial Board for the journal of Health and Quality of Life Outcomes.
Current projects
- NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Research Design Services (YHRDS). Co-applicant (PI: Professor R. Akehurst). 2008-2013 £5,000,000
- NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Research Design Services. Co-applicant (PI: Dr Wendy Baird). 2013-2018 £5,250,000
- MRC Lifestyle Matters for maintenance of health and wellbeing. Co-applicant (PI: Professor G. Mountain).
2011-2015 £1,139,934 - NIHR PHR Putting Life in Years (PLINY): Evaluation of the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of an intervention to promote mental wellbeing in community living older people. Co-applicant (PI: Professor G. Mountain). 2011-2015 £706,611
- NIHR PGFaR Bridging the age gap in breast cancer. Improving outcomes for older women. Co-applicant (PI: Dr L. Wyld, Prof. M. Read). 2012-2017 £1,705,273
- MRC Assessing the risk of spontaenous premature birth by electrical impedance spectroscopy of the cervix . Co-applicant (PI: Prof D. Anumba). 2012-2016 £622,047
- NIHR RfPB Replacing conventional spine radiographs with dual energy x-ray absorptiometry in children with suspected reduction in bone density . Co-applicant (PI: Dr A Offiah). 2011-2013 £193,425
- NIHR DRF A mixed methods study to evaluate clinical and cost effectiveness of self-managed exercise programme versus usual physiotherapy for chronic rotator cuff disorders. Co-applicant (PI: C. Littlewood). 2012-2014 £265,064
PhD Students
Claire Hill
Development of an osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) quality of life measure and validation and reliability of the OI specific functional assessment tool
Brian Reddy
Multi-criteria approaches to public health decision making
Chris Littlewood
Evaluating the effectiveness of a self-managed exercise programme for chronic rotator cuff disorders
View full list of Stephen Walters' publications
Section
Stephen Walters is based in the Design, Trials & Statistics Section.
Books
- Walters SJ (2009) Quality of Life Outcomes in Clinical Trials and Health-Care Evaluation. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Freeman JV, Walters SJ & Campbell MJ (2008) How to Display Data. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Campbell MJ, Machin D & Walters SJ (2007) Medical Statistics: A Textbook for the Health Sciences. Wiley-Blackwell.
Journal articles
- Julious SA & Walters SJ (2013) Estimating effect sizes for health related quality of life outcomes.. Stat Methods Med Res.
- Aridegbe T, Kandler R, Walters SJ, Walsh T, Shaw PJ & McDermott CJ (2013) The natural history of motor neuron disease: assessing the impact of specialist care.. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener, 14(1), 13-19.
- Walters SJ (2012) Analyzing time to event outcomes with a Cox regression model. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics, 4(3), 310-315.
- Littlewood C, Ashton J, Mawson S, May S & Walters S (2012) A mixed methods study to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a self-managed exercise programme versus usual physiotherapy for chronic rotator cuff disorders: protocol for the SELF study.. BMC Musculoskelet Disord, 13, 62.
- Athey VL, Rogers TK, Suckling RJ, Tod AM & Walters SJ (2012) Early diagnosis of lung cancer: Evaluation of a community-based social marketing intervention. Thorax, 67(5), 412-417.
- Clibbens N, Walters S & Baird W (2012) Delphi research: issues raised by a pilot study.. Nurse Res, 19(2), 37-44.
- Burton M, Walters SJ, Saleh M & Brazier JE (2012) An evaluation of patient-reported outcome measures in lower limb reconstruction surgery. Quality of Life Research, 21(10), 1731-1743.
- Walters SJ, Morrell CJ & Slade P (2011) Analysing data from a cluster randomized trial (cRCT) in primary care: a case study. JOURNAL OF APPLIED STATISTICS, 38(10), 2253-2269.
- Scott EJ, Dimairo M, Hind D, Goyder E, Copeland RJ, Breckon JD, Crank H, Walters SJ, Loban A & Cooper CL (2011) "Booster" interventions to sustain increases in physical activity in middle-aged adults in deprived urban neighbourhoods: internal pilot and feasibility study.. BMC Public Health, 11, 129.
- Mutebi A, Brazier JE & Walters SJ (2011) A comparison of the discriminative and evaluative properties of the SF-36 and the SF-6D index. Quality of Life Research, 1-10.
- Naylor PB, Cowie HA, Walters SJ, Talamelli L & Dawkins J (2009) Impact of a mental health teaching programme on adolescents.. Br J Psychiatry, 194(4), 365-370.
- Morrell CJ, Slade P, Warner R, Paley G, Dixon S, Walters SJ, Brugha T, Barkham M, Parry GJ & Nicholl J (2009) Clinical effectiveness of health visitor training in psychologically informed approaches for depression in postnatal women: pragmatic cluster randomised trial in primary care.. BMJ, 338, a3045.
- Morrell CJ, Warner R, Slade P, Dixon S, Walters S, Paley G & Brugha T (2009) Psychological interventions for postnatal depression: cluster randomised trial and economic evaluation. The PoNDER trial. HEALTH TECHNOL ASSES, 13(30), 1-+.
