Professor Christopher Whitty
KCB FRS FRCP FFPH FMedSci
Honorary Professor
of Public and International Health
LSHTM
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom
Chris Whitty is a physician and epidemiologist who works in public health, science policy and clinical medicine. Previously Professor of Public and International Health (to 2019) and now honorary professor at LSHTM. Currently Chief Medical Officer for England and chief medical adviser to the UK government, Consultant NHS physician at UCLH and The Hospital for Tropical Diseases. Previously Chief Scientific Adviser Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and head (CEO) of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) 2016-21; Interim Government Chief Scientific Adviser, head of the Government Office for Science and head of the government science and engineering profession 2017-18; Chief Scientific Adviser and Director of Research and Evidence, UK Department for International Development (DFID) 2009-2015. Previous Gresham Professor of Physic (now emeritus and visiting professor), Gresham College.
Worked as a clinician and in research in the UK, Africa and Asia especially on malaria and other infectious diseases. Postgraduate training in epidemiology (MSc LSHTM, DTM&H, DSc), economics (MBA, DipEcon), medical law (LLM). Trustee of Sightsavers. Previous roles include director of the multidisciplinary LSHTM Malaria Centre, trustee of the international health NGO Merlin, chair of the UK Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) and of the National Expert Panel on New and Emerging Infections (NEPNEI), and director of the international ACT Consortium on malaria prevention and treatment led from LSHTM.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
DTM&H, MScs. Examples of some recent public lectures online on communicable diseases include on epidemics and pandemics, infections of the brain, infections of the nerves, malaria, Ebola, Zika, imported infections, eradicating disease, infections as we go through life and age, vaccination. Examples of lectures on non-communicable diseases include health at the extreme ages of life, demography, improving neonatal health, heart disease, stroke, dementia, diabetes, respiratory disease, combatting air pollution. Talks on cancers include those caused by infection and immunotherapy, breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and overviews of cancer treatment and cancer prevention. The Harveian Oration, looking at recent triumphs and challenges in medicine globally in the next 20 years (transcript) and on the challenges for the NHS over the next 20 years.
Research
Google scholar profile. Research into the pathology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malaria and other infectious diseases.