I joined LSHTM in 1999 as Professor of International Nutrition and founded the MRC International Nutrition Group. Now based in The Gambia, I am Theme Leader for Nutrition & Planetary Health at the MRC Unit The Gambia where I have been conducting research at the rural fieldstation at MRCG Keneba for over 4 decades.
Born, raised and schooled in East Africa, I studied biochemistry at Leeds followed by a PhD in Nutrition at Darwin College, Cambridge. Following 5–years of post-doctoral research in Keneba (1978-83) I returned to Cambridge to lead the Energy Metabolism and Obesity Group at the MRC Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre prior to joining LSHTM.
My international roles include being a Council Member of both the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) and the Federation of African Nutrition Societies (FANUS). I sit on the Professional Advisory Committee of HarvestPlus and am a board member of the educational foundation the Nestlé Nutrition Institute. I am a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Member of the US National Academy of Science.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I am co-organiser of the Maternal and Child Nutrition Module for the MSc in Nutrition for Global Health. I currently have 3 PhD students and am keen to support further African students.
Research
Our research covers a broad portfolio of nutrition-related disease with an emphasis on driving Africa-specific insights and interventions. Within this, my own chief interests are in the interplay between iron, infection and immunity, and on the impact of a mother's pre-conceptional diet and nutritional status on the emerging fetal methylome and downstream epigenetic influences on later-life diseases.
Selected Publications
