Ghazaleh Aali, Evidence Synthesis Manager
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Ghazaleh obtained her master’s degree after completing her thesis by designing and leading a randomized controlled trial of bibliotherapy for students with earthquake anxiety. Later, she worked as the Managing Editor at the Journal of Epistemology.
She joined the Cochrane Collaboration in 2016 after Sir Iain Chalmers‘s encouragement. Between then and 2023, she worked as Managing Editor at Cochrane Schizophrenia (University of Nottingham), Cochrane Neuromuscular (UCLH), Cochrane Gut (UCLan), and Cochrane Heart (University College London). During this time, she led, participated in, and published several Cochrane reviews, network meta-analyses, and scoping reviews. She joined Systematic Review Consultants LTD in 2016 as a part-time systematic reviewer and became a full-time Evidence Synthesis Manager in 2023.
Because of her focused work with four Cochrane groups, she has extensive knowledge of conducting detailed systematic reviews from protocol development to GRADE tables. Ghazaleh’s research interests are centered on evidence synthesis in the form of systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and network meta-analyses.
Tilly Fox, Systematic Reviewer and Methodologist
Tilly is a Research Associate in Evidence Synthesis with a particular interest in producing reviews of complex interventions and developing novel methods. She has developed a diverse portfolio of Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews, including intervention reviews, diagnostic test accuracy reviews, qualitative evidence synthesis, and network meta-analyses. Several of Tilly’s publications have contributed to the development of WHO guidelines.
Tilly is currently employed at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), where she is an Evidence Synthesis Delivery Specialist focused on producing systematic reviews on high-priority infectious disease topics. She is also pursuing a PhD in novel evidence synthesis methods with LSTM.
Nicole Waldorf, Finance Manager
Nicole joined Systematic Review Consultants LTD as her first work experience in October 2022. She is an informed, up-to-date, and futuristic finance manager with a particular interest in medical research organizations. She has been instrumental in our company’s financial stability and preparedness.
Petra Nass, Senior Health Technology Assessor
Petra is a multidisciplinary scientist with over 20 years of experience delivering high-quality systematic literature reviews, Health Technology Assessments (HTA), health outcomes, and preclinical laboratory research across multiple disease areas and international markets. She authored and content-edited over 200 systematic reviews and HTAs for the Hayes Inc. Knowledge Center, the leading provider of HTAs for payers in the United States. She contributed to projects for the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and the Patient-Centred Outcomes Research Institute in the United States. Her most recent roles involved providing strategic leadership in evidence development, managing a research team of over 25 scientists, and overseeing the timely delivery and scientific integrity of 140 HTAs annually.
She completed postdoctoral training in gene therapy and molecular medicine at the US Food and Drug Administration and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her continuing education includes certificates in Public Policy and Management at the University of York (United Kingdom), Intercultural Training and Consulting at the Heidelberg University of Education (Germany), and Modelling Cost-Effectiveness in Healthcare at the London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom) (this course ends in April 2022).
Petra is passionate about using evidence to solve global problems. She is interested in projects related to biodiversity and re-greening, as well as healthcare.
Volunteering
Petra is a member of Cochrane. She participates in Cochrane reviews and also volunteers through the Cochrane Crowd platform.
Fang Zhu, Biostatistician
Fang is an anesthesiologist by training and holds a PhD degree in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. She has over 10 years of experience in diverse qualitative and quantitative evidence synthesis research and statistical analysis roles to evaluate patient outcomes and the effectiveness of treatments and interventions. She has proven success in rapid review (Cochrane) systematic review, meta-analysis, and randomized/non-randomized clinical trials with a strong personal commitment to meet expectations. She is also a proficient Stata and SAS programmer and is experienced in R, SPSS, RevMan, Tableau, Covidence, EPPI-Reviewer, GRADEpro GDT, PROSPERO registry, etc.
Thomas Katairo, Epidemiologist/Biostatistician
Katairo is a professional epidemiologist and biostatistician. He holds a first degree in biomedical laboratory technology, a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics, and a certificate in implementation science from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In the field of evidence synthesis, Katairo works as a 1) research fellow with the Africa Centre of Systematic Reviews and Knowledge Translation at Makerere University, Uganda, 2) a consultant with the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, (3ie) 3) a consultant with the Campbell Collaboration 4) freelance consultant with the Systematic review Consultants.
Katairo has experience conducting quantitative and qualitative systematic reviews, meta-analyses, Risk of Bias (RoB) analyses, and producing Evidence and Gap Maps (EGMs). He has experience using STATA, Eppi-Reviewer (both basic and web-version), Eppi-Mapper, RevMan, GradePro, EndNote, and Zotero, among other software programs.
Ana Pantović, Biostatistician
Ana, a researcher with a multidisciplinary background, initially pursued her MSc in Food Science; however, she was driven to broaden her expertise in nutrition and health. During her research position at the Institute of Medical Research, she actively participated in conducting dietary intervention studies. Additionally, within the Biostatistics department, she delved into the statistical analysis of both interventional and epidemiological studies. Her pursuit of knowledge led her to a short scientific visit as part of the COST action POSITIVe at the University of Glasgow, where she underwent specialized training in systematic reviews and meta-analysis, which then became her main area of interest. Over the past six years, Ana has been focused on such projects as a freelance researcher, collaborating with various enterprises and academic institutions. Her focus predominantly revolves around systematic review and meta-analysis projects, particularly in the field of health and healthcare (that were more specifically concerned with diagnostic accuracy, digital health, and the effects of dietary and medical treatments, among others). Ana joined Systematic Review Consultants LTD as a biostatistician. She is proficient in tools such as R, CMA, and SPSS and is dedicated to continually enhancing her knowledge and skills.
Arun Kumar, Senior Biostatistician
Arun Kumar has over 17 years of experience as a mixed-methods health and social care researcher, having led or played a substantial role in numerous systematic reviews aimed at policy, clinical practice, or guidelines for organizations organisations such as the Johanna Briggs Institute (JBI), Cochrane, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and the Scottish Government. For example, Arun played a key role in synthesising clinical research evidence across diverse health domains, including women and children’s health, cancer, and mental health to support the development of guidelines for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Working collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team, he utilised meta-analysis, network meta-analysis, and GRADE methodology to deliver and present evidence summaries on effective healthcare to Guideline Committees involving practitioners, the public, and government agencies. Notably, Arun successfully led a systematic review investigating the impact of tobacco control policies on child and perinatal health, resulting in evidence-based strategies to support a tobacco endgame strategy for Scotland. Additionally, he significantly contributed to a configurative review exploring public attitudes toward death, dying, and bereavement, which led to policy implications for the National End of Life Care Programme and the National Council for Palliative Care.
Beyond his professional achievements, Arun’s dedication to making a positive impact is evident by his educational work with the deaf community in India to empower, create peer mentors and advocate for social inclusion.
Kavita Kothari, Senior Information Scientist
Holding an MPH from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master of Science in Economics from Tilburg University, Kavita is a health information specialist and researcher with extensive experience in systematic reviews and guidelines development. She has contributed to over 200 reviews for the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva. As a freelance consultant, she also contributes to review projects for Cochrane Ireland/Evidence Synthesis Ireland and the Karolinska Institute.
She is also highly skilled in evidence synthesis software, including EndNote, EPPI-Reviewer, DistillerSR, Covidence, and Rayyan. At WHO, she played a role in testing and recommending software platforms to support evidence synthesis teams.
Kavita has expertise in searching, creating, and managing databases, such as the WHO COVID-19 Research Database. She is deeply committed to making evidence-informed decisions to improve global health, with a particular focus on maternal and child health, as well as healthcare in developing countries.
She has been invited to deliver lectures on the use of Automation, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence in systematic reviews and evidence synthesis for WHO as well as lectures on searching for systematic reviews for Evidence Synthesis Ireland and the Swiss Tropical Public Health Institute. She is actively involved in research on Machine Learning and Large Language Models.
Volunteering
She also volunteers on the Press Forum Platform and as a reviewer for the Cochrane Evidence Synthesis Methods Journal.
Fabrizio D’Ascenzo, Senior Research Analyst
Fabrizio D’Ascenzo is an Interventional Cardiologist working in the University of Turin. He is a researcher, mainly focusing on Acute Coronary Syndromes, Heart Failure, and structural heart disease. He has 10 years of experience conducting systematic reviews and pairwise and network meta-analyses published in high-ranking journals (from the Lancet to the European Heart Journal). He provides numerous courses on writing systematic reviews.
Ambrish Singh, Epidemiologist/Health Economist
Ambrish is a registered pharmacist with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and a master’s in Biotechnology. He is a professional with strong health outcome research skills and a result-driven attitude. With more than nine years of industry/academic experience in primary and secondary evidence synthesis, he has helped leading consulting organizations, global medical device companies, and pharmaceutical companies generate compelling evidence to support health technology value propositions.
He is pursuing his PhD in Epidemiology and Health Economics at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research. He has experience undertaking systematic reviews, meta-analyses, health economics and outcome research, and real-world evidence studies.
As a research team member, he has worked for several key national and international organizations such as WHO, Cochrane, the International Decision Support Initiative, Joanna Briggs Institute, and the World Federation of Haemophilia from the UK, Canada, and Australia. See the recent guidelines he has worked on for WHO and WFH.
Claire Taylor, Customer Care Manager
After a long period of leave from her management role in healthcare, Claire decided to start her career as a qualified customer service manager in November 2024. She is currently working flexibly, taking good care of our clients across the globe. She hopes to expand our client base to new horizons and organizations within the next two years.
Marwah Anas El-Wegoud, Medical Writer
Marwah is a dentist with a master’s degree in prosthodontics and is working toward obtaining a master’s degree in systematic reviews from the University of Oxford. She is a competent systematic reviewer with seven years of experience in quantitative evidence synthesis, meta-analysis, and randomized controlled trials. She joined Cochrane in 2014 and has since led several Cochrane and non-Cochrane systematic reviews of interventions methodologically.
She has provided training in numerous Cochrane Standard Author Training workshops and is currently volunteering as an author and referee in four Cochrane review groups. Furthermore, she has provided training on how to write and publish research and draft your paper following the recommendations of the EQUATOR network. She is passionate about evidence synthesis and strongly believes in the substantial impact high-quality evidence has on people’s lives.
Tina Peckmezian, Medical Writer
Tina is a multidisciplinary researcher with a track record of delivering high-quality outcomes for organizations and stakeholders across academic, clinical, governmental, and not-for-profit institutions. Her most recent roles have involved managing the research activities of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration and working as a Research Consultant in the mental health space. Her work experience is underpinned by strong academic qualifications, including a PhD in biology and cognition. She is passionate about contributing to positive change by implementing evidence-based practices and policies, particularly within the public health and mental health space.
Vanesa Huerta Scarrera, Research Analyst
Vanesa is a registered Pharmacist specializing in research. Her work includes Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) for the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). She also carries out research on evidence-based interventions for the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare providers. She has a Master’s in Public Health from the University of York and postgraduate education in Health Economics. She is a member of Consilium Scientific, a leading not-for-profit organization that advocates for research transparency. She is highly committed and driven.
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Farhad Shokraneh, Director
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Farhad has been an Evidence Scientist since 2004. He holds a PhD in Medicine and has worked at the University of Nottingham, King’s College London (KCL), University College London (UCL), and UCLH. He held two Post-Doctoral positions in Palliative Care at Cambridge University, and an Honorary Lectureship at UCL and KCL. He works as an Evidence Synthesis Manager at Oxford University and a Senior Research Associate at Bristol University. As a methodologist, he has co-authored the Cochrane Handbook and coined the ‘Living Search Strategy,’ ‘Search Pyramid,’ ‘Search-Resistant Concepts,’ and ‘Iterative Systematic Review.’ In addition, he expanded and explained ‘Priority Screening‘ and ‘Study-Based Registers.’ He founded Systematic Review Consultants LTD in 2016.
He has been invited to deliver lectures on the application of Automation, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence in systematic reviews and evidence synthesis (+). He recently held the most-viewed webinar on Elsevier’s channel. He was an invited speaker at Search Solutions 2018 and 2022 and has delivered tutorials for the British Computer Society (the Chartered Institute for IT) since (+, +, +). Furthermore, he was recognized at the University of Nottingham (2019) and King’s College London (2021) for exceptional performance in research and teaching. His most recent free webinar attracted 800 global participants. Watch the recording for free: Responsible Use of AI in Evidence Synthesis: Bridging the Gap Between the Research and Practice. He received the BCS Foundation Certificate in Artificial Intelligence in August 2022 and created and curated LEMASyR, a map of all publications on the automation of systematic reviews since 2025.
Volunteering
Farhad has worked with 22 Cochrane Groups and contributed to over 450 Cochrane systematic reviews. In his spare time, he curates Systematic Review and Academic Writing topics on ResearchGate. Since 2008, the year ResearchGate launched, he has added over 329 answers to the questions asked by researchers about these topics.
He resigned from his roles as editor of two journals and as a peer reviewer for 25 journals and started the GAJET List (2023) to fight predatory and unethical commercial academic publishing. He still peer-reviews grant applications for the NIHR, MRC, and Leverhulme Trust.
COVID-19
He joined Evidence Aid to fight against COVID-19. Farhad published the first and most sensitive search filter for COVID-19 literature in the BMJ. Immediately after that, he developed the first Living Search Strategy to retrieve all literature relevant to COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 in PubMed (report in Journal of Clinical Epidemiology). He is one of 320 scientists who wrote to the Prime Minister that the lack of vaccines in poorer countries will harm all countries through new variants, and a temporary waiver of intellectual property rules is the solution (BBC).
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