Will Johnson, BSc PhD

Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology and Population Health, Loughborough University, UK

Biography

Will Johnson is a Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology and Population Health at Loughborough University in the UK. His research focuses on working with complex longitudinal data to investigate the life course epidemiology of non-communicable diseases in both high-income settings (e.g., UK and USA) and low- and middle-income settings (e.g., The Gambia and India). His experience and expertise are in investigating the role of body size trajectories and inequalities in obesity and related-disease development. Much of this work has been conducted across multiple cohorts of individuals born at different points in time, thereby allowing investigation of secular trends in longitudinal processes and relationships. From conducting this research, he has developed skills in the design and application of statistical methods to model longitudinal data, particularly those pertaining to human physical growth and obesity development. His research has resulted in over 85 publications (h-index 26; i10 index 56) and has been funded by (among others) the UK Medical Research Council, USA National Institutes of Health, the British Academy, and the Child Growth Foundation.

Recent Publications

  1. Johnson W. The problem of latent class trajectory analysis in child growth and obesity research. Ann Hum Biol. In Press.

  2. Bann D, Wright L, Goisis A, Hardy R, Johnson W, Maddock J, McElroy E, Moulton V, Patalay P, Scholes S, Silverwood RJ, Ploubidis GB, O’Neil D. Investigating change across time in prevalence or association: the challenges of cross-study comparative research and possible solutions. Discov Soc Sci Health 2022;2(1):18.

  3. Johnson W. Inequalities in pediatric obesity trends: challenges and opportunities. Lancet Pub Health 2021;6(7):e437-8.

  4. Norris T, Cole TJ, Bann D, Hamer M, Hardy R, Leah L, Ong KK, Ploubidis G, Viner R, Johnson W. Duration of obesity exposure between ages 10-40 years and its relationship with cardiometabolic disease risk factors in 20 746 UK adults. Plos Med 2020;17(12):e1003387.

  5. Bann D, Fitzsimons E, Johnson W. Determinants of the population health distribution: an illustration examining body mass index. Int J Epidemiol 2020;49(3):731-7.

  6. Norris T, Ramel SE, Catalano P, ni Caoimh C, Roggero P, Murray D, Fields D, Demerath EW, Johnson W. New charts for the assessment of body composition, according to air-displacement plethysmography, at birth and across the first six months of life. Am J Clin Nutr 2019;109:1353–60.

  7. Johnson W. Healthy obesity: time to give up the ghost? Ann Hum Biol 2018;45(4):297-8.

  8. Bann D, Johnson W, Li L, Kuh D, Hardy R. Socioeconomic inequalities in body mass index, weight, and height in childhood and adolescence: coordinated analyses of individual participant data from four British birth cohort studies initiated in 1946, 1958, 1970, and 2001. Lancet Pub Health 2018;3(4): e194-e203.

  9. Johnson W, Li L, Kuh D, Hardy R. How has the age-related process of overweight or obesity development changed over time? Co-ordinated analyses of individual participant data from five United Kingdom birth cohorts. Plos Med 2015;12: e1001828.

  10. Johnson W. Analytical strategies in human growth research. Am J Hum Biol 2015;27(1): 69-83.

Research Expertise

  • The role of body size and composition trajectories in lifelong health and wellbeing.

  • Secular trends, inequalities, and other forms of variation in the development, causes, and consequences of obesity and related diseases.

  • Statistical methods to model longitudinal data and investigate complex associations, particularly multilevel and growth mixture modelling.