Pollyanna Hardy
BSc, MSc
Associate Professor and Director of National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit Clinical Trials Unit (NPEU CTU)
Pollyanna Hardy is responsible for the management and strategic direction of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU), the Clinical Trial Service Unit & Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU), and overseeing a programme of neonatal and maternal clinical trials.
Polly joined the NPEU and CTU as a Senior Statistician in 2010. In 2017 she then took up a post as a Statistics Lead at the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit, University of Birmingham, where she spent four years working on a diverse portfolio of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT), including perinatology, global surgery, mental health and health services delivery. She then returned to the NPEU in 2021 as Director of the CTU.
Polly has extensive experience in the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of RCTs, with a keen interest in complex RCT design methodology, and has particular expertise in RCTs in the field of obstetrics and neonatology. She is the statistics lead for the National Institute for Health Research Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery RCT portfolio, and a member of a national Steering Group to develop a set of principles for handling end of follow-up events in clinical trials research (PeRSEVERE). She also currently sits on the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Commissioning Board.
Polly graduated from the University of Sussex in 1990 with a BSc in Mathematics and European Studies, and obtained an MSc in Statistics from University of Sheffield in 1994. She has previously worked as a medical statistician at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.
Recent publications
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Lactation-focused audio relaxation versus standard care for mothers of very preterm infants (the EXPRESS randomized clinical trial)
Journal article
Levene I. et al, (2024), Pediatric Research
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Health screening clinic to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism among NHS Staff: eTHOS a pilot RCT.
Journal article
Adams R. et al, (2024), Health Soc Care Deliv Res, 12, 1 - 105
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Trial of Selective Early Treatment of Patent Ductus Arteriosus with Ibuprofen.
Journal article
Gupta S. et al, (2024), N Engl J Med, 390, 314 - 325
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Frenotomy with breastfeeding support versus breastfeeding support alone for infants with tongue-tie and breastfeeding difficulties: the FROSTTIE RCT.
Journal article
Knight M. et al, (2023), Health Technol Assess, 27, 1 - 73
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Mixed-methods feasibility study to inform a randomised controlled trial of proton pump inhibitors to reduce strictures following neonatal surgery for oesophageal atresia.
Journal article
Mitchell TK. et al, (2023), BMJ Open, 13