Mark Jit
BSc PhD MPH FMedSci
Professor
of Vaccine Epidemiology and Head of Department
I work mainly at LSHTM, but also hold a visiting professorship at the School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong. I worked for many years at Public Health England (as well as its predecessor the Health Protection Agency), and continue to collaborate with colleagues there.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I teach postgraduate and professional courses on vaccinology, modelling and economics of infectious diseases, both at LSHTM and elsewhere. I co-coordinate a module on Health Decision Science at LSHTM, and the Croucher Summer Course on Vaccinology for Public Health and Clinical Practice in the 21st century held in Hong Kong in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong. I also help to coordinate training workshops on modelling and economics of vaccines across Asia.
Students interested in opportunities to conduct epidemiological, economic and/or policy research on vaccines and other infectious disease interventions towards a Masters, PhD or DrPH degree are welcome to get in touch.
Research
My main research focus is investigating the epidemiological and economic impact of vaccines and other infectious disease control interventions to support evidence-based public health decision making. Much of this work uses transmission dynamic models to capture ecological effects of interventions beyond the individual.
I am particularly interested in the use of modelling to inform the interface between technical questions about projecting the impact that vaccines can have, and normative questions about what health and economic goals we should pursue. Examples of such questions include the distribution of the costs and benefits of vaccines across different countries and people around the world, and the value of long-term outcomes such as reducing antimicrobial resistance or eradicating an infection.
I work closely with decision makers such as the World Health Organization, country governments and national immunisation technical advisory groups such as the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. In particular, my work has helped inform immunisation policy on a range of vaccines (including COVID-19, measles, HPV, pneumococcal, rotavirus, influenza and dengue vaccines) in both developed and developing countries, in close collaboration with partners based in those countries.
A major focus of my recent work has been understanding the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and ways to mitigate it.