John Edmunds BSc MSc PhD

Professor

• Affiliation
• Teaching
• Research
• Publications

• 
• Room 103b
• LSHTM
• Keppel Street
• London
• WC1E 7HT
• T: +44 (0)20 7927 2390

My interests are in designing effective and cost-effective control programmes against infectious diseases. This entails a mixture of mathematical models, statistical and economic analysis, and sociological studies (trying to understand how we mix, so that we can model the spread of diseases better). The emphasis is placed on the application of these methods to real-world problems to enable decision-makers to optimise the design of public-health control programmes. I have published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in this field (confusingly my initials are WJ Edmunds!) and I have acted as an advisor on national and international committees on many occasions on topics ranging from HPV vaccination to pandemic influenza.

Before joining the School I was the Head of the Modelling and Economics Unit at the HPA, and I still work for the HPA on a part-time basis, on issues related to the UK vaccination programme.

Affiliation

• Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology
• Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health

Teaching

I teach on modelling the transmission dynamics and control of infectious diseases. I am a co-organiser of the LSHTM Infectious Disease Modelling summer short course and MSc Module with Emilia Vynnycky (UK Health Protection Agency) and Richard White.

Research

My main research interests involve the development and application of mathematical models to help address public health decisions. Examples include the real-time analysis and modelling of the 2009 swine flu pandemic; analysis of HPV vaccination policy in the UK; and modelling the impact of chlamydia screening.

I am particularly interested in helping to develop better mathematical models of the spread of close-contact infections (like measles, influenza, and pneumococcal disease) through the collection and analysis of data on human contact patterns. 

During the 2009 flu pandemic, Ken Eames and I set up an internet-based influenza monitoring system. This allowed us to track the evolution of the epidemic, and showed how individuals' behaviours altered over time. The system has been extended and again proved useful for monitoring the spread of seasonal flu. For further details see the flusurvey site.

• Selected publications

• Measured Dynamic Social Contact Patterns Explain the Spread of H1N1v Influenza.

  Eames, K.T. ; Tilston, N.L. ; Brooks-Pollock, E. ; Edmunds, W.J. ;

  PLoS Comput Biol, 2012; 8(3):e1002425

• Modelling the seasonality of rotavirus disease and the impact of vaccination in England and Wales

  Atchison, C.; Lopman, B.; Edmunds, W.J.

  Vaccine, 2011; 29(22):3828-3828

• Transmission dynamic modelling of the impact of human papillomavirus vaccination in the United Kingdom.

  Choi, Y.H.; Jit, M.; Gay, N.; Cox, A.; Garnett, G.P.; Edmunds, W.J.;

  Vaccine, 2009;

• Dynamic social networks and the implications for the spread of infectious disease

  Read, J.M.; Eames, K.T.D.; Edmunds, W.J.

  Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2008; 5(26):1001-1007

• Social contacts and mixing patterns relevant to the spread of infectious diseases

  Mossong, J.; Hens, N.; Jit, M.; Beutels, P.; Auranen, K.; Mikolajczyk, R.; Massari, M.; Salmaso, S.; Tomba, G.S.; Wallinga, J.; Heijne, J.; Sadkowska-Todys, M.; Rosinska, M.; Edmunds, W.J.

  PLoS Med, 2008; 5(3):e74

• Using Time-Use Data to Parameterize Models for the Spread of Close-Contact Infectious Diseases

  Zagheni, E.; Billari, F.C.; Manfredi, P.; Melegaro, A.; Mossong, J.; Edmunds, W.J.

  American Journal of Epidemiology, 2008;

• A metapopulation modelling framework for gonorrhoea and other sexually transmitted infections in heterosexual populations.

  Chen, M.I.; Ghani, A.C.; Edmunds, W.J.;

  J R Soc Interface, 2008; 6(38):775-91

• Impact of model, methodological, and parameter uncertainty in the economic analysis of vaccination programs

  Brisson, M.; Edmunds, W.J.

  Medical Decision Making, 2006; 26(5):434-46

• → View all John Edmunds's publications

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