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Professor Ivonne Solis-Trapala

Professor Ivonne Solis-Trapala (PhD)

Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials
E: i.solis-trapala@bsms.ac.uk
Location: Watson Building, University of Brighton, Falmer, BN1 9PH

Areas of expertise: Medical statistics; clinical trial methodology; graphical modelling; multistate models; real-world evidence.

Research areas: Statistical methods for clinical and population health research; sequences-of-regressions graphical models and multistate modelling; complex clinical trials; health services research; inclusive clinical trials design.

Biography

Professor Ivonne Solis-Trapala is Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials and Director of the UKCRC-registered Brighton & Sussex Clinical Trials Unit (BSCTU). She provides strategic leadership for a portfolio of multi-centre clinical trials, working with multidisciplinary teams to deliver rigorous and impactful health research. She holds a PhD in Statistics from the University of Cambridge and completed an MRC Fellowship in Biostatistics at Lancaster University.

She serves on national NIHR committees, including the Health Technology Assessment Commissioning Funding Committee, and contributes to methodological oversight as a member of Trial Steering Committees and Data Monitoring Committees for randomised clinical trials. Prior to joining BSMS, she was Director of Keele Clinical Trials Unit and Co-Director of the NIHR Research Support Service Hub (University of Birmingham and Partners), supporting health and care research across England.

Her research focuses on the development of statistical methodology for clinical and population health research, with particular emphasis on graphical and multistate modelling for complex longitudinal data and clinical trials. A central theme of her work is improving the transparency and interpretability of complex relationships in real-world evidence and clinical research. She collaborates across oncology, renal medicine, psycho-oncology, and global health.

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Research

Her research develops statistical methods for clinical and population health research, with expertise in graphical modelling, multistate models for time-to-event data, and methodology for complex clinical trials and real-world evidence.

She has led methodological work applying sequences-of-regressions graphical models to complex observational and registry data. In a PLoS Medicine study of heart failure, she developed a causal graphical framework to evaluate the relative contribution of comorbidities to quality of life using Swedish Heart Failure Registry data. The analysis highlighted the importance of non-cardiovascular comorbidity burden and illustrated the value of decomposing complex multimorbidity relationships in clinical populations.

In renal research, she has led statistical methodology for randomised controlled trials of complex interventions and developed integrated analytical approaches combining graphical and multistate modelling for real-world evidence studies using registry and linked survey data. This includes work within the NIHR-funded Inter-CEPt study (NIHR128364). Analyses using UK Renal Registry data have examined how patient and service-level factors influence uptake of home dialysis across England, highlighting the role of organisational factors in access to home therapies.

She has also contributed to internationally influential evidence on communication-skills training in oncology through a long-standing collaboration with SHORE-C, with findings informing clinical practice and policy on patient–clinician communication.

Selected publications

Potts, J., Pearse, C. M., Lambie, M., et al. (2026). Health disparities in transitions between kidney replacement therapy modalities and mortality in England: a multistate model using UK Renal Registry data. PLOS Medicine, 23(2), e1004674. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004674

Davies, S. J., Coyle, D., Lindley, E. J., et al. (2025). Bioimpedance spectroscopy to maintain renal output: the BISTRO randomised controlled trial. Health Technology Assessment, 29(32). https://doi.org/10.3310/RHON2378

Fallowfield, L. J., Solis-Trapala, I., Starkings, R., et al. (2025). IMPARTER4: randomised evaluation of communication support for genomic test result understanding. BMJ Oncology, 4(1), e000689. https://doi.org/10.1136/BMJONC-2024-0006

Potts, J., Pearse, C. M., Lambie, M., et al. (2025). Patient and centre factors in home dialysis therapy uptake: analysis of a UK Renal Registry cohort and a national dialysis centre survey. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 87(1), 53–64.e1. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.ajkd.2025.08.012

Fotheringham, J., Solis-Trapala, I., Briggs, V., et al. (2023). Catheter event rates in medical compared to surgical peritoneal dialysis catheter insertion. Kidney International Reports, 8(12), 2635–2645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ekir.2023.09.015

Davies, S. J., Coyle, D., Lindley, E. J., et al. (2023). Bio-impedance spectroscopy added to a fluid management protocol does not improve preservation of residual kidney function in incident haemodialysis patients in a randomised controlled trial. Kidney International, 104(3), 587–598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.kint.2023.05.016

Lawson, C. A., Solis-Trapala, I., Dahlström, U., et al. (2018). Comorbidity health pathways in heart failure patients: a sequences-of-regressions analysis using Swedish Heart Failure Registry data. PLOS Medicine, 15(3), e1002540. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002540

Jenkins, V. A., Solis-Trapala, I., Langridge, C. I., et al. (2011). What oncologists believe they said and what patients believe they heard: phase I trial discussions. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 29(1), 61–68. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2010.30.0814

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