• Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Emerging and High Consequence Infectious Diseases
  • Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases, Royal Free Hospital, London
  • Honorary Consultant, National Infection Service, Public Health England

My research focusses on emerging and high consequence infectious diseases, covering mechanisms of pathogenesis, characterisation of disease, and clinical trials of potential treatments. In 2014-2015, I was the clinical lead for ERGO’s Ebola treatment trials in West Africa. Subsequently, I was a consultant at Public Health England, with responsibility for respiratory and enteric viruses, and latterly as the Head of Emerging Infections and Zoonoses and a National Incident Director for the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve been involved in clinical, public health and research responses to viral haemorrhagic fevers, novel coronavirus infections, influenza, enterovirus infections, acute flaccid paralysis, orthopox infections, and Zika virus. I’ve been involved in the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) and the Clinical Characterisation Protocol since their inception. I co-lead projects in the NIHR Health Protection Research Units in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections and Respiratory Infections. I’m an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Infections at Imperial College London, and an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor in Infection and Immunity at University College London.

I re-joined ERGO full-time in April 2021. Building on my experience in respiratory virus immunology, international outbreak preparedness and response, studying the mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and pathogen transmission, and clinical trials of potential treatments, I’ll be supporting multiple international ERGO projects, from COVID-19 to monkeypox to ‘disease X’. My research reflects the common goal of ERGO: conducting and enabling meaningful clinical research, with a focus on patient-centred projects and an aim to reduce the impact of emerging infections, epidemics and pandemics. In addition to working on current and persistent challenges, I’ll be working with the team and international partners on a process of continuous improvement, research-readiness and collaborative working, so that we are even better prepared to study and mitigate future outbreaks, wherever they occur.

Selected publications:

Features of 20 133 UK patients in hospital with covid-19 using the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol: prospective observational cohort study
BMJ 2020; 369 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1985 (Published 22 May 2020)

Experimental Treatment of Ebola Virus Disease with TKM-130803: A Single-Arm Phase 2 Clinical Trial. Published: April 19, 2016 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001997

Progression of whole-blood transcriptional signatures from interferon-induced to neutrophil-associated patterns in severe influenza. Nature Immunology volume 19, pages625–635(2018). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-018-0111-5

Human-to-Human Transmission of Monkeypox Virus, United Kingdom, October 2018. Emerg Infect Dis. 2020 Apr;26(4):782-785. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2604.191164

Open-source clinical science for emerging infections. Lancet Infect Dis. 2014 Jan;14(1):8-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(13)70327-X