My research seeks to understand causes of disease in older age with a focus on how infections interact with other health conditions. I lead a programme of research funded by a Wellcome Career Development Award which aims to investigate relationships between infections and key components of brain health (mental health, cognitive health and sensorimotor function) in older age. This uses large, longitudinal datasets from across populations along with robust causal inference methods. I am also co-lead for a programme of research on immune-mediated inflammatory disorders, their treatments and dementia risk. Through generating new insights into the infection-brain health relationship across and within different populations, my research aims to inform the design of interventions to improve brain health worldwide.

I am also leading a large collaborative project funded by Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy) to enhance the UK Biobank dataset with additional infectious disease data to enable research into infections and non-communicable disease links. 

My other research interests include social and environmental influences on health, health inequalities, vaccine epidemiology and phenotyping methods.