Professor Suzanne Hagen
Professor of Health Services Research
Department of Nursing, Community and Public HealthSuzanne Hagen is a Chartered Statistician, Professor of Health Services Research in the Department of Nursing, Community and Public Health, School of Health and Life Sciences. She is Cross-Theme Lead for the Research Centre for Health (ReaCH), and her research contributes mainly to the “PELvIC floor And continence” (PELICAN) workstream.
Suzanne’s research interests lie in the area of developing and evaluating complex interventions and the measurement of health outcomes. Clinical areas of research interest relate to pelvic health, including pelvic organ prolapse, bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunction, and the role of non-surgical management of these conditions. Methodologically, her expertise is in systematic reviews and multi-centre randomised controlled trials.
Recently completed projects include the TOPSY trial, evaluating the effectiveness of pessary self-management for prolapse, and the ProLong20+ study, estimating the prevalence of pelvic floor dysfunction in a cohort of over 5,000 women who gave birth in 1993/94. An NIHR HTA-funded trial of the effectiveness of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) plus a pessary for treatment of prolapse commenced in September 2024, aiming to randomise 552 women to this combined intervention or PFMT alone, and compare symptoms after 12 months.
Current doctoral supervision topics include physiotherapy management of endometriosis and risk prediction of pelvic floor dysfunction after childbirth.
Suzanne is an adjunct assistant Professor at the School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, USA, past member of the NHS England Perinatal Pelvic Health Committee, and advisor on the Scottish Women’s Health Plan.
Research Interests: trials; systematic reviews; statistics; pelvic health; prolapse; incontinence; constipation; PROMS.