Prof Nicholas Harvey
MA MB BChir PhD FRCP FAOP FASBMR
Deputy Director; Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology; MRC Investigator; Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist
Nicholas Harvey trained in medicine at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and is Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology, and Deputy Director, at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton, where he leads an MRC programme, using a lifecourse approach to the epidemiology, determinants and prevention of osteoporotic fractures.
He is Chair of the International Osteoporosis Foundation Committee of Scientific Advisors; a Trustee of the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) and was inaugural Vice-Chair of the ROS Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy. He is a Fellow of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland and of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). He has won national/international prizes, most recently the International Osteoporosis Foundation Medal of Achievement. He is an investigator on >£50m grant funding, has published >350 articles, and is a member of many national/ international committees, including as Musculoskeletal Lead for the UK Biobank Imaging Study, a member of the UK National Osteoporosis Guideline Group Advisory Committee, as a past member of the ASBMR Professional Practice Committee, and as clinical co-chair of the 2021 ASBMR Annual Meeting.
Landmark publications:
1. Woolford SJ, …. Harvey NC. Associations Between Late Pregnancy Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and Offspring Bone Mass: A Meta-Analysis of the Southampton Women's Survey (SWS) and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). J Bone Miner Res. Aug 2022;37(8):1511-9.
2. Curtis EM, …. Harvey NC. Pregnancy Vitamin D Supplementation and Childhood Bone Mass at Age 4 Years: Findings From the Maternal Vitamin D Osteoporosis Study (MAVIDOS) Randomized Controlled Trial. JBMR Plus. Jul 2022;6(7):e10651.
3. Raisi-Estabragh Z, …. Cooper C, Petersen SE, Harvey NC. Poor Bone Quality is Associated With Greater Arterial Stiffness: Insights From the UK Biobank. J Bone Miner Res. 2020 Sep 22. Jan 2021;36(1):90-9.
4. Woolford SJ, …, Cooper C, Harvey NC. COVID-19 and associations with frailty and multimorbidity: a prospective analysis of UK Biobank participants. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2020 Sep;32(9):1897-1905.
5. Forgetta V, … Harvey NC, … Cooper C, Richards JB. Development of a polygenic risk score to improve screening for fracture risk: A genetic risk prediction study. PLoS Med. 2020 Jul 2;17(7):e1003152.
6. Raisi-Estabragh Z, Cooper J, Judge R, Khanji MY, Munroe PB, Cooper C, Harvey NC, Petersen SE. Age, sex and disease-specific associations between resting heart rate and cardiovascular mortality in the UK BIOBANK. PLoS One. 2020 May 29;15(5):e0233898.
7. Littlejohns TJ, … Harvey NC, Sudlow CLM, Matthews PM, Allen NE. The UK Biobank imaging enhancement of 100,000 participants: rationale, data collection, management and future directions. Nat Commun. 2020 May 26;11(1):2624.
8. Parsons CM, Harvey N, … Cooper C; SCOOP Trial Group. Systematic screening using FRAX® leads to increased use of, and adherence to, anti-osteoporosis medications: an analysis of the UK SCOOP trial. Osteoporos Int. 2020 Jan;31(1):67-75.
9. Curtis EM, Krstic N, …, Harvey NC; MAVIDOS Trial Group. Gestational vitamin D supplementation leads to reduced perinatal RXRA DNA methylation: Results from the MAVIDOS trial. J Bone Miner Res. 2019;34(2):231-240.
10. Curtis EM, Murray R, .., Harvey NC. Perinatal DNA Methylation at CDKN2A Is Associated With Offspring Bone Mass: Findings From the Southampton Women's Survey. J Bone Miner Res. 2017 Oct;32(10):2030-2040.
11. Morris JA, Kemp JP, …, Harvey NC, … Bassett JHD, Evans DM, Richards JB. An Atlas of Human and Murine Genetic Influences on Osteoporosis. Nat Genet. 2019;51(2):258-266
12. Harvey NC, D'Angelo S, Paccou J, et al. Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation Are Not Associated With Risk of Incident Ischemic Cardiac Events or Death: Findings From the UK Biobank Cohort. J Bone Miner Res. 2018 May;33(5):803-811.
13. Shepstone L, Lenaghan E, … Harvey N, …, Turner D, McCloskey E; SCOOP Study Team. Screening in the community to reduce fractures in older women (SCOOP): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2018 Feb 24;391(10122):741-747.
14. Harvey NC, Odén A, Orwoll E, et al. Measures of Physical Performance and Muscle Strength as Predictors of Fracture Risk Independent of FRAX, Falls, and aBMD: A Meta-Analysis of the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study. J Bone Miner Res. 2018 Dec;33(12):2150-2157.
15. *Cooper C*, Harvey NC*, Bishop NJ, et al. Maternal gestational vitamin D supplementation and offspring bone health (MAVIDOS): a multicentre, double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2016 May;4(5):393-402. *joint first author
16. Harvey NC, Sheppard A, Godfrey KM, et al. Childhood bone mineral content is associated with methylation status of the RXRA promoter at birth. J Bone Miner Res. 2014;29(3):600-7.
17. *Harvey NC, Moon RJ, Sayer AA, et al. Maternal antenatal vitamin D status and offspring muscle development: findings from the Southampton Women’s Survey. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014 Jan;99(1):330-7.
18. Harvey N, Mahon P, Robinson S, et al. Different indices of fetal growth predict bone size and volumetric density at 4 years old. J Bone Miner Res. 2010 Apr;25(4):920-7.
Major grants:
Medical Research Foundation Policy and Practice Award: 2021-22: £29.5k; PI
MRC: National Network on Musculoskeletal Ageing; 2022-2024; £150,847; Co-PI
MRC: Capital Award: MRC LEC Musculoskeletal Scanning Suite; 2020-2021; £217k; Co-PI
MRC: Programme Grant: Early development and risk of adult musculoskeletal disease: July 2021-June 2026: £1.84m; PI
MRC: Postdoctoral Research Training Fellowship (Fernandes) November 2021-October 2027, supervisor, £355,598
MRC: Capital Award: XtremeCT2 High Resolution Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography Scanner; 2019-2020; £325k; Co-PI
MRC: VidiKids South Africa: May 2018-May 2021 - Prof Adrian Martineau, Prof Cyrus Cooper, Prof Nicholas Harvey et al - £327,885.66 - Co-I
Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award, AUGMENT: September 2018-September 2023 - Prof Jon Tobias, Prof Nicholas Harvey et al - £1.6m - Co-I
British Heart Foundation: April 2018-April 2021 - £231,716 - Research Training Fellowship, Z Raisi-Estbragh, Supervisors: Prof Steffen Petersen, Prof Nicholas Harvey
BBSRC: January 2017-October 2019 - Prof Nicholas Harvey - £125,000 (of total £1.2m) - Early Epigenetic Influences on Bone Development-Cross Cohort Analysis (ALPHABET) - PI
Wellcome Trust: August 2016-August 2019 - £252,397 - Clinical Research Training Fellowship Epigenetic Determinants of Bone Microarchitecture, E Curtis – Supervisors: N Harvey, C Cooper
Medical Research Council/Wellcome Trust/British Heart Foundation: April 2014-March 2021 - Prof Nicholas Harvey (Co-author with: Prof Jimmy Bell, Prof Sir Rory Collins, Prof Cyrus Cooper, Dr Tony Goldstone, Prof Heidi Johansen-Berg, Prof Paul Leeson, Prof Paul Matthews, Prof Stefan Neubauer, Prof Steffen Petersen, Prof David Reid, Prof Stephen Smith, Dr Louise Thomas, Dr Alan Young) - £42 million - UK Biobank Imaging Enhancement (Full study) - Co-I; DXA lead
Arthritis Research UK, September 2016-September 2021, Prof Nicholas Harvey et al.: £362,894. MAVIDOS Trial 6 year child follow-up. PI
Medical Research Council: 1 April 2015-31 March 2020 - Profs Cyrus Cooper, Elaine Dennison and Nicholas Harvey - £4.11 million - Lifecourse Determinants of Bone and Joint Disease, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit - Co-PI
Medical Research Council/University of Southampton: 2013-18 - Profs Cyrus Cooper and Nicholas Harvey - £841,392 - Epigenetics PhD Studentships - Co-PI
EU FP7: 2013-2018 - Prof Nicholas Harvey, Prof Cyrus Cooper, Prof Keith Godfrey et al - £195,608 (of £6m total) - Co-I
Impact example:
Pregnancy vitamin D supplementation and offspring bone health. https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=44139