London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Tell us about yourself and your background

I am an Associate Professor in Epidemiology in the Department of Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). I have worked at LSHTM for 18 years (in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology until 2016). I have over 25 years’ experience of epidemiological research to understand child and adolescent health, focused on infections, antibiotic exposure, asthma and allergic disease.

What is the focus of your work here at LSHTM?

My research spans infectious disease and non-communicable disease, including asthma, allergic disease and cardiometabolic disease, such as obesity.  I am particularly interested in how early life infections influence the risk of non-communicable diseases throughout the lifecourse. I have worked with the Born in Bradford (BiB) birth cohort in Yorkshire since 2008, including leading the Allergy and Infection Study and a study on antibiotics for caesarean section and risk of asthma and allergic disease. For the last 10 years, I have coordinated studies to better understand different types of asthma with collaborators in Brazil, Ecuador, Uganda, and New Zealand. We are currently focusing on identifying the causes and mechanisms of non-allergic asthma. 

What impact do you hope your research will have?

I hope our research will help us to better understand the causes of asthma, eczema and other inflammatory-related non-communicable diseases, and thereby improve prevention and treatment of these diseases. The best part of my job is working with lovely collaborators all over the world, and I believe that interdisciplinary, collaborative research will have the greatest impact on these health challenges. By conducting studies on health and disease across diverse populations and working with colleagues across disciplines, we can uncover mechanisms of disease to inform prevention and improved treatment strategies.

You’ve just joined as Child theme co-lead, can you tell us about this role and what you hope to achieve?

I’m excited to join Daniela and Lola to lead the Child Theme in the MARCH Centre. Our main role is to connect researchers working on child health, both within LSHTM (in London and at our international sites) and external collaborators. This includes bringing PhD students together and working with our amazing MSc Student Ambassadors on events such as the recent MARCH 4 MARCH.

I hope to contribute to the child health research strategy at LSHTM, and to bring researchers together across disciplines to develop strong collaborative research project bids, especially given the current funding environment.

What is your biggest achievement to date, or something you’re most proud of?

I am most proud of securing a large Wellcome Trust grant in 2008 for the Allergy and Infection Study within the BiB birth cohort. The BiB study was just getting started at this time and it has been wonderful to see it grow into such a successful internationally-recognised research programme over the years. I love collaborating with my excellent colleagues at BiB!

Outside of your professional life, what do you enjoy to do in your free time?

I enjoy walking with friends and family, including hiking and occasional wild camping with my children. I joined the University of London staff choir a few years ago and it is such a joy to sing every Thursday lunchtime! Our spring concert is on 15 April (includes an ABBA medley!)