Dr Rice graduated with a degree in Physiology from Kings College London in 1986, where she also obtained her PhD in “65Zinc Transport across the Blood-Brain Barrier” under the supervision of the late Professor Malcolm Bradbury. After a career break of seven years, Dr Rice was awarded a scholarship from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital to do an MSc in Human Reproductive Biology, in order to change her field of research. She then worked a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Professors Steve Franks and Kate Hardy at The Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology, Imperial College London, where she developed her interest in polycystic ovary syndrome, folliculogenesis and reproductive endocrinology.
Dr Rice joined St George’s, University of London in 2003 as a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Helen Mason’s laboratory with whom she went on to have a very successful collaboration. She got a faculty position in 2007 and established herself as a principle investigator.
Dr Rice is the current Chair of the national Society for Reproduction and Fertility (SRF), one of the principal scientific societies specialising in reproductive biology, both within the UK and internationally. She also represents the SRF on the programme organising and joint executive committees for Fertility, the annual joint conference of the UK Fertility Societies i.e. SRF, British Fertility Society (BFS) and Association of Reproductive and Clinical Scientists (ARCS). She has also served as session chair at the Fertility meetings and is a regular reviewer for abstracts submitted to the international conferences for the European Society of Endocrinology (2015-current), ENDO2015, and Fertility (2016-current).
Dr Rice is also closely associated with the international Australian Society for the Study of Reproductive Biology (SRB) and USA Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR). She was part of the committee that formed, assessed and awarded the first global Roger Short Medal for Reproductive Biology (2023). She is currently on the committee to establish the first International Federation of Reproductive Biology.
She is also a member of the Awards Assessment Panel for The Daphne Jackson Trust (2014-current), the UKs leading organisation providing assistance to scientist returning to work after a career break.
Dr Rice has been an examiner for 2 external PhD vivas and 2 internal (University of London), as well as 2 MPhil transfer vivas. She has refereed numerous papers for journals such as the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Human Reproduction, Reproduction, Frontiers and Endocrinology amongst others. She is currently the external examiner for the Reproductive Biology Honours programme, Edinburgh University.
Dr Rice is a member of a number of committees and panels at SGUL, including Student Support and Welfare committee; Campus Good Relations committee; intercalated Biomedical Science committee; Virtual Panel for PhD examiner approval and has served on Senate twice (elected academic member).
Dr Rice is associated with the Cell Biology Centre in the Neurosciences and Cell Biology Research Institute.
Her research concentrates on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and dysfunctional ovarian follicle growth, with its resultant fertility issues. PCOS is the most common endocrine disorder affecting 5-10% of women of reproductive age. It has significant co-morbidities and long-term health implications, such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Her research focuses on the various signalling pathways that control and regulate ovarian steroidogenesis and glucose metabolism, and hence growth of the cells of the follicle. Follicle growth is further disrupted by inputs from the external environment e.g. obesity, insulin resistance and vitamin D deficiency, adding to the complexity of the problem. She is also involved with collaborators in Denmark to investigate the impact of environmental factors on foetal development and human fertility.
On-going specific research projects are focussed on:
- Investigating the altered metabolic and endocrine parameters in women with PCOS to determine correlations between Vitamin D deficiency, insulin resistance and menstrual cyclicity. The long-term goad is to determine whether clinical interventions alter these parameters.
- Determining the alterations in the insulin signalling pathway in granulosa cells taken from women with insulin resistance and PCOS, using in vitro analysis of the main proteins in this pathway.
- Elucidating the regulation of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) which is over-expressed in the polycystic ovary.
- Investigating the effect of environmental pollutants and over-the-counter medication on foetal organ development, with a special focus on the gonads, as well as male and female fertility.
Collaborations within St George's:
Dr Gul Bano, Thomas Addison Endocrine Clinic, SGHT
Mr Kamal Ojha, Obs & Gynae., SGHT
Prof. Tom Carter, SGUL
Dr Alexis Bailey, SGUL
Dr Daniel Osborne, SGUL
External Collaborations:
Prof. Claus Yding Andersen and Dr Linn Salto Mamsen, University Hospital of Copenhagen
Swiss Precision Diagnostics, Bedfordshire, UK
Dr Rice is a member of the Institute of Medical and Biomedical Education and is currently the Personal Tutor Co-ordinator for all courses at SGUL. She is the lead for the intercalated and 3rd year Science of Reproduction module.
Her teaching responsibilities span all years of the BSc and MSci Biomedical Science degrees, MBBS4, MBBS5, BSc in Healthcare Science and the Physicians Associate. Dr Rice lectures extensively on reproductive physiology. She supervises research projects at undergraduate (BSc and iBSc) and postgraduate levels (MRes and PhD).