Sabrina Mai Nielsen is postdoctoral fellow at the ‘Musculoskeletal Statistics Unit’ and she is co-affiliated with the Parker Institute, and The Rheumatology Research Unit, Department of Rheumatology, Odense University Hospital and University of Southern Denmark.
Sabrina graduated as a Bachelor in Food Science in 2013 and as a Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition in August 2015 from University of Copenhagen. Both educations included additional elective subjects within biostatistics. Her thesis ‘Marine Oil Supplements for Arthritis Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials’ was prepared in collaboration with the Parker Institute. Sabrina has been employed as a research assistant at Musculoskeletal Statistics Unit, the Parker Institute since December 2015 and is primarily involved in preparing Statistical Analysis Plans (SAPs; i.e. co-authoring SAPs), conducting the analyses, and reporting the findings in respected journals - according to ICMJE standards - following the guidance from the EQUATOR network. In addition to this, Sabrina has been the principal investigator on systematic reviews (with evidence synthesis) on different topics although mostly related to Musculoskeletal Conditions.
Sabrina is already internationally a respected methodologist due to her broad field of biostatistical methods in medical research. This field covers a range of clinical epidemiological problems, with meta-research, study designs, and the development of statistical analysis plans. Stressing the importance of classical statistical methods (incl. transparent reporting of these), Sabrina is responsible for the development and analysis of numerous research projects, both within and outside of the Parker Institute and the Department of Rheumatology, Odense University Hospital, Denmark and she has co-authored several peer reviewed articles (see link below). The articles involves different areas across health research, published in journals such as JAMA, JAMA Psychiatry, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Autoimmunity Reviews, British Journal of Dermatology, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care, among others.
From 1st of November 2018 until 31st of October 2021, Sabrina was enrolled as a PhD student at Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark with the PhD project ‘Contextual factors in rheumatology: A PhD study within biostatistics and clinical epidemiology’, and received her PhD title after a successful defense on the 8th of February 2022. The project was part of an international initiative within the organization ’Outcome Measures in Rheumatology’ (OMERACT), where Sabrina is the fellow of the ‘Contextual Factors Working Group’ (CFWG). The project lead to a consensus-based operational definition of contextual factors for clinical trials. Her postdoc project is a natural continuation of her PhD project, aiming to gain consensus on a limited set of contextual factors that should always be considered within rheumatology trials.