Thomas Clasen JD MSc PhD

Senior Lecturer in Water, Sanitation and Health

• Affiliation
• Teaching
• Research
• Publications

• 
• North Courtyard, 3rd Floor
• LSHTM
• Keppel Street
• London
• WC1E 7HT
• T: + 44 (0) 207 927 2916
• F: + 44 (0) 207 636 7843

After obtaining a JD from Georgetown University in 1981, I joined Foley & Lardner, a 1000+ lawyer US firm where I was responsible for international business transactions, becoming a partner in 1987. In 1994 I left the firm to become Vice President, General Counsel and a Director of Everett Smith Group, Ltd., a US$1 billion conglomerate. My interest in waterborne disease arose from investments in point-of-use water treatment technologies (Exstream and First Water). I received my MSc (Control of Infectious Diseases) and PhD (Household Water Treatment for the Prevention of Diarrhoeal Diseases) from the University of London, and joined the faculty of LSHTM in 2004.

Affiliation

• Department of Disease Control

Teaching

Water & Sanitation (ID210); Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases in Developing Countries (ID301); Course Committee, Control of Infectious Diseases; Visiting Professor, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley (2009-2010); Senior Lecturer, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University (2008-2009); Adjunct Professor, School of Law, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA (1987-1992); Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (1989-1992).

Research

I have assisted in the evaluation of low-cost water treatment products in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cambodia, Colombia, Congo (DRC), the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Peru, Sierra Leone, Vietnam and Zambia. The evaluation protocols include microbiological effectiveness, disease impact, economic impact, acceptability, willingness-to-pay and sustainability. I led a groups that conducted a Cochrane Review on the effectiveness of improvements in the microbiological quality of drinking water on diarrhoeal disease and and the effectiveness of sanitation interventions to prevent diarrhoea, and performed a cost-effectiveness analysis of water quality interventions for the WHO. My research also includes the assessment of uptake (adoption and continued utilization), affordability, scalability and sustainability of water and sanitation interventions using public, NGO (including micro-finance), quasi-commercial (social marketing) and commercial models of dissemination. Recent research includes the evaluation of drinking water interventions in emergencies and outbreaks, and the assessments of the prevalence, microbiological effectiveness and cost of boiling.  Current research includes a large randomized, controlled trials in India to assess the effectiveness of rural sanitation to prevent diarrhoea and helminth infection, and a blinded, placebo-controlled trial in India to assess the health impact of routine use of chlorine tablets to treat water at home.

• Selected publications

• Assessing the Impact of a School-based Safe Water Intervention on Household Adoption of Point-of-Use Water Treatment Practices in Southern India.

  Freeman, M.C. ; Clasen, T. ;

  Am J Trop Med Hyg, 2011; 84(3):370-8

• Assessing the Microbiological Performance and Potential Cost of Boiling Drinking Water in Urban Zambia.

  Psutka, R. ; Peletz, R. ; Michelo, S. ; Kelly, P. ; Clasen, T. ;

  Environ Sci Technol, 2011;

• Estimating the scope of household water treatment in low- and medium-income countries.

  Rosa, G.; Clasen, T.;

  Am J Trop Med Hyg, 2010; 82(2):289-300

• Interventions to improve disposal of human excreta for preventing diarrhoea.

  Clasen, T.F.; Bostoen, K.; Schmidt, W.P.; Boisson, S.; Fung, I.C.; Jenkins, M.W.; Scott, B.; Sugden, S.; Cairncross, S.;

  Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2010; 6:CD007180

• Household Water Treatment and the Millennium Development Goals: Keeping the Focus on Health.

  Clasen, T.F.;

  Environ Sci Technol, 2010;

• Field Assessment of a Novel Household-Based Water Filtration Device: A Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo

  Boisson, S.; Kiyombo, M.; Sthreshley, L.; Tumba, S.; Makambo, J.; Clasen, T.

  Plos One, 2010; 5(9)

• Randomized controlled trial in rural Ethiopia to assess a portable water treatment device.

  Boisson, S.; Schmidt, W.P.; Berhanu, T.; Gezahegn, H.; Clasen, T.;

  Environ Sci Technol, 2009; 43(15):5934-9

• Water and Sanitation

  Clasen, T.; Sugden, S.

  in 'Oxford Textbook of Public Health' al., Beaglehole R. et(2009) Oxford University Press (Oxford)

• → View all Thomas Clasen's publications

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