Close

Professor Deborah Watson-Jones

Professor of Clinical Epidemiology

United Kingdom

Deborah Watson-Jones is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology & International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has been based at the Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit (MITU) in Mwanza, Tanzania since 1995. Her research interests include HPV epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa, the evaluation of a single dose of prophylactic HPV vaccines in females and males through the DoRIS and Add-Vacc trials in Tanzania, and evaluation of Ebola and COVID-19 vaccines in Sierra Leone and Mpox. She is the principal investigator of the DoRIS and Add-Vacc trials and the co-lead of the Global HPV Burden Study which is measuring the burden of HPV in females in 5 African and 3 South Asian countries. She is a member of the Single-Dose HPV Vaccine Evaluation Consortium, the International Papillomavirus Society, the WHO Blue Print and the WHO Filovirus Collaborative Open Research Consortium (CORC).

 

Affiliations

Department of Clinical Research
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

Centres

Centre for Evaluation
Centre for Maternal Adolescent Reproductive & Child Health
Vaccine Centre

Research

Her research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of HPV and related infections and research on HPV vaccine and Ebola vaccines. She has conducted studies in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone DRC, and Mongolia. Her initial work in Mwanza was on the impact and prevention of congenital syphilis. She was the principal investigator (PI) on the first trial to investigate whether suppressing herpes infections could reduce HIV incidence in Tanzanian females in Mwanza region. She co-led the first trial on the immunogenicity and safety of HPV vaccines in sub-Saharan Africa and led a trial in Mwanza to investigate HPV vaccine delivery strategies. She has led on evaluation of lessons learnt from HPV vaccine introductions in low- and middle-income countries which has informed policy on HPV vaccine delivery.
She is the PI of the DoRIS randomised trial that is currently evaluating the immunogenicity of single-dose HPV vaccines in Tanzanian girls and the Add-Vacc cluster randomised trial evaluating the impact of single dose HPV vaccination to males. She is a member of the Single-Dose HPV Vaccine Evaluation Consortium. She led the EBOVAC1 and EBOVAC3 consortia that evaluated the safety and immunogenicity and provided evidence for the licensing for emergency use of the 2-dose prophylactic Ebola vaccines.


 

Research Area
Clinical trials
Global health
Epidemiology
Immunology
Vaccines
Climate change
Disease and Health Conditions
Human papillomavirus (HPV)
Ebola virus
Infectious diseases
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Tropical diseases
Syphilis
Marburg virus
Sexually transmitted infections
Country
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ghana
Nigeria
Sierra Leone
Tanzania
Zambia
Pakistan
Nepal
Bangladesh
Thailand
Region
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only)
South Asia

Selected Publications

Cross-reactive Bundibugyo antibody responses after licensed Ebola vaccines
Lhomme, E; Wiedemann, A; Ayouba, A; Ben-Farhat, S; Thaurignac, G; Roy, C; BEAVOGUI, AH; Doumbia, S; Kieh, M; Leigh, B; Sow, S; Migueles, SA; WATSON-JONES, D; Yazdanpanah, Y; THIEBAUT, R; Peeters, M; RICHERT, L; Levy, Y;
2026
openRxiv
Contact Networks of Small Mammals Highlight Potential Transmission Foci of Mammarenavirus lassaense.
Simons, D; Goyal, R; Bangura, U; Gibb, R; Rushton, B; Sondufu, D; Lamin, J; Koninga, J; Foday, M; Dawson, M; Lahai, J; Ansumana, R; Fichet-Calvet, E; Kock, R; WATSON-JONES, D; Jones, KE;
2026
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene
High-risk HPV Types in 3 South Asian Countries among Screening-eligible Women: Implications
for Cervical Cancer Screening from the Global Burden Estimation of Human Papillomavirus
(GLOBE-HPV) Project
Hill, A; Rahman, F; Pasha, A; Manandhar, S; Lee, Y; Telele, N; Ahn, H; Cho, H; Park, S; Permatasari, I; Larsson, E; Unger, E; Alam, A; Shiblee, S; Rahman, M; Rahman, S; Shahi, S; Katuwal, N; Shrestha, S; Shrestha, A; Ejaz, M; Nisar, I; Osmani, S; Parveen, A; WATSON-JONES, D; ... Lynch, J.
2026
#13297
Patterns of blood pressure and factors associated with hypertension among young adults in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Oke, D; Ogah, O; Bello, Y; Lawal, O; Kareem, Y; Adeyemi, O; Olalemi, O; Adedokun, B; Salako, B; Adewole, I; WATSON-JONES, D; Morhason-Bello, I;
2026
BMC cardiovascular disorders
Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions towards HPV Vaccines in three South Asian Countries at Different Stages of Vaccine Introduction: Implications for Policymakers from the GLOBE-HPV Project
Park, S; Ejaz, M; Alam, M; Manandhar, S; Hill, A; Lee, Y; Ahn, H; Cho, H; You, Y; Lee, J; Permatasari, I; Herzig van Wees, S; Ekström, A; Kågesten, A; Rahman, F; Shiblee, S; Sharmin, I; Rahman, S; Rahman, M; Shrestha, S; Pasha, A; Parveen, A; Mirza, H; Naz, T; WATSON-JONES, D; ... Lynch, J.
2026
Long-term safety and immunogenicity of the two-dose heterologous Ad26.ZEBOV, MVA-BN-Filo Ebola vaccine regimen: a cohort study of previously vaccinated adults and children in Sierra Leone (the EBOVAC-Salone extension study)
Manno, D; Balami, AD; Bangura, A; Kamara, AB; Kallon, JA E; Conteh, M; Ayieko, P; Baiden, F; AFOLABI, MO; Faye, F; TINDANBIL, D; Foster, J; Owusu-Kyei, K; Kamara, MM; Koroma, B; Lawal, BJ; Otieno, GT; Jusu, MO; Njie, Y; Kowuor, D; Odeni, L; Fombah, AE; Morovia, FE; Bah, OM; Connor, NE; ... WATSON-JONES, D.
2026
The Lancet Regional Health - Africa
Extreme weather effects on health services and communities in low and lower-middle income countries: a thematic systematic review.
Brainard, J; Sedekia, Y; Jones, NR; Matte, M; Sunday, P; WATSON-JONES, D; Mapemba, DD; Kabakama, SA; Mulogo, EM; Ntaro, M; Tuyet-Hanh, TT; Hunter, PR; Geere, J-A;
2026
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Effect of the time of day for vaccination on the immune response to Ebola Virus Disease vaccines: A modeling study from PREVAC randomized trial.
Kpetigo, A-MD; Alexandre, M; Camara, A; Beavogui, A; Doumbia, S; Kieh, M; Leigh, B; Sow, S; Wittkop, L; Soutthiphong, A-A; Berry, IM; Fleck, S; Akoo, P; Hamze, B; WATSON-JONES, D; Kuhn, JH; GREENWOOD, B; Richert, L; Yazdanpanah, Y; Lévy, Y; Thiébaut, R; Prague, M; PREVAC Study Team,; Lhomme, E;
2026
PLoS neglected tropical diseases
A One Health trial design to accelerate Lassa fever vaccines.
Simons, D; WATSON-JONES, D; MANNO, D; Friant, S;
2026
Nature medicine
A qualitative exploration of perceived risks, motivations, and risk management strategies among brothel-based female sex workers in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Ibraheem, OM; Oyadeyi, OA; Lawal, EO; Omobowale, O; Olalemi, OE; Jegede, AS; Aderinto, AA; Adewole, IF; Francis, SC; WATSON-JONES, D; Morhason-Bello, IO;
2025
BMC public health
See more information