Her main research interests are chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease and diabetes, maternal and child health, obesity and tobacco control. She is a member of the CLEAN collaboration; a pan-Scotland group charged with evaluating the impact of the Scottish smoke-free legislation. She was the Principal Investigator on a number of CLEAN studies including studies evaluating the impact on cardiovascular and respiratory disease and pregnancy complications. The former study was voted, by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, to be the most important research advance of 2008.