Laura Gray

BSc, MSc, PhD

School of Medicine and Population Health

Senior Research Fellow in Health Econometrics

Population Health Staff Profile - Laura Gray
Profile picture of Population Health Staff Profile - Laura Gray
laura.gray@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 0885
+44 114 222 0749 (Fax)
Regent Court (ScHARR)

Full contact details

Laura Gray
School of Medicine and Population Health
Regent Court (ScHARR)
30 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 4DA
Profile

My research interests include econometric methods development in the areas of obesity research and utility mapping research.

I recently completed an MRC Skills Development Fellowship exploring obesity trajectories in older adults and investigating the impact of missing data on these trajectories and their application in cost-effectiveness analysis.

Other recent research includes the exploration of different measures of general and central obesity, and comparing these measures over the life course.  This research was funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation for a New Investigator in Public Health  personal award from the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO). 

Before joining the School of Medicine and Population Health (formerly the School of Health and Related Research), I was funded by an CASE studentship in partnership with as a PhD candidate.  My PhD thesis was titled “”.  

Prior to my PhD, I completed an MSc in Financial Economics (2009-2010) in the  and a BSc in Economics and Statistics (2006-2009) in the , both at the University of Sheffield.

Qualifications

Academic Qualifications

  • PhD Health Econometrics, 2016
  • MSc Financial Economics, 2010
  • BSc Economics and Statistics, 2009

Awards 

  • EASO-NNF New Investigator in Public Health Award, 2024
  • Public Health Practitioners Skills for Justice Award, Faculty of Public Health 2021
  • UoS Associate Supervisionary, 2020
  • The Researcher as Manager (TRAM), ILM accreditation 2020
  • MRC Skills Development Fellowship, 2018
  • ESRC CASE Studentship (with NICE), 2011
Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Journal articles

  • Gray L, Mensah JP, Breton MO, Aryeetey RNO, Boadu I, Anaba EA, Atuobi-Yeboah A & Akparibo R (2025) . Communications Medicine, 5.
  • Gray L, Killedar A & Breeze P (2025) . Frontiers in Public Health.
  • Gray L (2025) . Scientific Reports.
  • Gray LA (2024) . Obesity Research and Clinical Practice, 18(4), 249-254.
  • Opazo Breton M & Gray L (2023) . Obesity.
  • Gray LA, Breeze PR & Williams EA (2022) . Obesity, 30(9), 1898-1907.
  • Breeze P, Gray LA, Thomas C, Bates SE & Brennan A (2022) . Quality of Life Research, 31(11), 3283-3292.
  • Gray LA, Hernandez Alava M & Wailoo AJ (2021) . BMC Cancer, 21(1).
  • Hernandez M, Wailoo A, Pudney S, Gray L & Manca A (2020) . Health Technology Assessment Journal (HTA Journal), 24(34).
  • Gray LA, Wailoo AJ & Hernandez Alava M (2018) . Value in Health, 21(12), 1399-1405.
  • Gray LA, Hernández Alava M & Wailoo AJ (2018) . Value in Health, 21(6), 748-757.
  • Gray LA, Hernandez Alava M, Kelly MP & Campbell MJ (2018) . BMC Public Health, 18(1).
  • Gray LA & Alava MH (2018) . Stata Journal, 18(1), 51-75.
  • Gibson LA, Alava MH, Kelly MP & Campbell MJ (2017) . Journal of Public Health United Kingdom, 39(4), e152-e160.

All publications

Journal articles

  • Tuck C, Gray L, Akparibo R & Cooper R (2025) . Global Health Research and Policy, 10(46).
  • Gray L, Mensah JP, Breton MO, Aryeetey RNO, Boadu I, Anaba EA, Atuobi-Yeboah A & Akparibo R (2025) . Communications Medicine, 5.
  • Gray L, Killedar A & Breeze P (2025) . Frontiers in Public Health.
  • Tuck C, Timtoni Iddrisu AR, Moro SA, Akparibo R, Aryeetey R, Gray L & Cooper R (2025) . Communications Medicine, 5(1).
  • Tuck CZ, Akparibo R, Gray LA, Suraj H, Iddrisu ART, Abane TR, Deedat AA, Aryeetey RNO, Abubakari BB, Azure A & Cooper R (2025) . BMJ Open, 15(2).
  • Gray L (2025) . Scientific Reports.
  • Tuck C, Gray L, Suraj H, Iddrisu ART, Abane TR, Aryeetey R, Baba BA, Akparibo R & Cooper R (2024) . Journal of Cancer Policy, 41.
  • Gray LA (2024) . Obesity Research and Clinical Practice, 18(4), 249-254.
  • Stevely AK, Gray LA, Fairbrother H, Fenton L, Henney M, Kersbergen I & Holmes J (2024) . PLoS ONE, 19(6).
  • Keetharuth AD, Gray LA, McGrane E, Worboys H & Orozco-Leal G (2024) . Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 22(1).
  • Tuck CZ, Cooper R, Aryeetey R, Gray LA & Akparibo R (2023) . International Journal for Equity in Health, 22(1).
  • Stevely AK, Gray LA, Fairbrother H, Fenton L, Henney M & Holmes J (2023) . Preventive Medicine Reports, 36.
  • Opazo Breton M & Gray L (2023) . Obesity.
  • Gray LA, Hernandez Alava M & Wailoo AJ (2022) . BMC Cancer, 22(1).
  • Tuck CZ, Akparibo R, Gray LA, Aryeetey RNO & Cooper R (2022) . BMJ Open, 12(10).
  • McGrath M, Gray LA, Rek B, Davies KC, Savage Z, McLean J, Stenson A & Zahedi S (2022) . Plos One, 17(9 September).
  • Gray LA, Breeze PR & Williams EA (2022) . Obesity, 30(9), 1898-1907.
  • Breeze P, Gray LA, Thomas C, Bates SE & Brennan A (2022) . Quality of Life Research, 31(11), 3283-3292.
  • Gray LA, Hernandez Alava M & Wailoo AJ (2021) . BMC Cancer, 21(1).
  • Hernandez M, Wailoo A, Pudney S, Gray L & Manca A (2020) . Health Technology Assessment Journal (HTA Journal), 24(34).
  • Moore S, Allen D, Amos Y, Blake J, Brennan A, Buykx P, Goodacre S, Gray L, Irving A, O'Cathain A , Sivarajasingam V et al (2020) . Health Services and Delivery Research, 8(24), 1-214.
  • Gray L (2020) .
  • Gray LA, Wailoo AJ & Hernandez Alava M (2018) . Value in Health, 21(12), 1399-1405.
  • Gray LA, Hernández Alava M & Wailoo AJ (2018) . Value in Health, 21(6), 748-757.
  • Gray LA, Hernandez Alava M, Kelly MP & Campbell MJ (2018) . BMC Public Health, 18(1).
  • Gray LA & Alava MH (2018) . Stata Journal, 18(1), 51-75.
  • Gibson LA, Alava MH, Kelly MP & Campbell MJ (2017) . Journal of Public Health United Kingdom, 39(4), e152-e160.
  • Stevenson MD, Wailoo AJ, Tosh JC, Hernandez-Alava M, Gibson LA, Stevens JW, Archer RJ, Simpson EL, Hock ES, Young A & Scott DL (2017) . Journal of Rheumatology, 44(7), 973-980.
  • Gray L & Opazo Breton M () Long-term trends in central obesity in England: An Age-Period-Cohort Approach. International Journal of Obesity.

Conference proceedings

  • (2025) . International Journal of Obesity, Vol. 49(Suppl 1) (pp 1-45)
  • Gray L, Mensah J, Boadu I, Opazo BM, Nii OAR & Akparibo R (2024) AN AGE-PERIOD-COHORT APPROACH TO STUDYING LONG-TERM TRENDS IN OBESITY AND OVERWEIGHT IN WOMEN IN GHANA (2003-2023). VALUE IN HEALTH, Vol. 27(12) (pp S249-S249)
  • Gray LA (2024) . European Journal of Public Health, Vol. 34(Supplement_3)
  • Gray LA (2024) . Obesity Facts, Vol. 17(Suppl. 1) (pp 166-166). Venice, Italy, 12 May 2024 - 12 May 2024.
  • Tuck C, Baba A, Cooper R, Gray L, Akparibo R, Aryeetey R, Timtoni A & Rahman T (2023) . Population Medicine, Vol. 5(Supplement) (pp 439-440). Rome, Italy, 2 May 2023 - 2 May 2023.
  • Tuck C, Boadu I, Akparibo R, Gray L, Aryeetey R & Cooper R (2023) . Population Medicine, Vol. 5(Supplement) (pp 519-520). Rome, Italy, 2 May 2023 - 2 May 2023.
  • Franklin M, Keetharuth A, Gray L & Worboys H (2022) Using response mapping to generate utility values for the SWEMWBS using the ReQoL-UI. EUHEA Conference 2022: Abstracts. Oslo, Norway, 5 July 2022 - 5 July 2022.
  • Gray L (2020) . Value in Health, Vol. 23(Supplement 2) (pp S608). Virtual conference, 16 November 2020 - 16 November 2020.
  • Gray L (2020) . Obesity Reviews, Vol. 21(S1). Virtual conference, 1 September 2020 - 1 September 2020.
  • Gray L () BMI Trajectories, Mortality and Comorbidity. Abstracts from the 18th Biennial European Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making, 14 June 2020 - 16 June 2020.

Reports

  • Pryce RE, Buykx P, Gray L, Stone T, Drummond C & Brennan A (2017) Estimates of alcohol dependence in England based on APMS 2014, including estimates of children living in a household with an adult with alcohol dependence. Prevalence, trends, and amenability to treatment
  • Bell H, Wailoo AJ, Hernandez M, Grieve R, Faria R, Gibson LA & Grimm S (2016) The Use of Real World Data for the Estimation of Treatment Effects in NICE Decision Making.
  • Gibson L, Hernandez Alava M & Wailoo A (2015) Progression of disease in people with rheumatoid arthritis treated with non biologic therapies

Theses

  • Gibson LA (2016) A public health approach to childhood obesity: the role of econometrics.

Preprints

  • Gray L & Breton M (2025) , Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
Research group

University of Sheffield Mplus Users’ Group

Laura leads the University of Sheffield Mplus Users’ Group.  If you are an Mplus user at the University of Sheffield, or from outside the University and would be interested in presenting your research using Mplus to our group, please get in touch with her to find out more.


Research Supervision

Laura is in the pool of supervisors for the Wellcome Trust Doctoral Training Programme and currently supervises two Wellcome Trust PhD students, Chloe Tuck and Oliver Carlisle.

Laura is interested in supervising students in the areas of econometrics relating to obesity research or utility mapping.

Grants

Projects as Principal Investigator

  • EASO-Novo Nordisk Foundation - Waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio and waist circumference across the Life Course. £34.4k.
  • MRC Skills Development Fellowship - BMI trajectories in middle to old age: methodological developments, missing data and cost-effectiveness. £291.2k.
  • National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society (NASS) - Mapping from the Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS) to EQ5D in Patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis. £16.2k.
  • Roche UK - Burden on Utility and NHS Resource Use on the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) Scores in Multiple Sclerosis Patients (BOUNDS-MS): A Real World Data Study. £18.5k.

Projects as Co-investigator

  • NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research - SWiM: Supporting Weight Management. £2.1m.
Teaching activities

HAR6178: Further Statistical Methods for Health Economic Analysis

Professional activities and memberships

I am a former Trustee for the Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO) a UK based charity and I currently sit on their operations management team.  I am also the local organising committee lead for their annual conference, the UK Congress on Obesity (UKCO) which will be held in Sheffield at Cutlers’ Hall in September 2026.