Professor Toyin Togun PhD FFPH
Professor of Global Health
United Kingdom
Toyin Togun is a Professor of Global Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and a Senior Scientist within the Vaccines & Immunity Theme at the MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM. A recognized leader in the field, he serves as Co-Director of the LSHTM TB Centre, where he leads a global network of multidisciplinary researchers dedicated to the eradication of tuberculosis. Professor Togun is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom, and contributes his expertise to high-level national and international bodies, including the National Health Research Ethics Committee of Nigeria (NHREC), WHO Child and Adolescent TB Working Group, and the Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF) College of Experts.
Toyin had his medical training at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Nigeria, later earning an MSc in Public Health in Developing Countries from LSHTM. His doctoral work, supported by an MRC Clinical PhD Fellowship, focused on the critical interface of clinical assessment and biomarker discovery for childhood tuberculosis. Building on this foundation, Toyin completed the prestigious Steinberg Global Health Postdoctoral Fellowship at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. His current work bridges the gap between discovery and impact, specializing in the validation of biomarkers across diverse settings and implementation research designed to translate scientific insights into sustainable global health policy.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
Toyin Togun is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). His teaching, learning support and supervisory activities include:
- Member of the Governance Team/Programme Steering Committee, WANETAM-TALENT PhD Fellowship programme
- Tutor: London Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) course
- Tutor: LSHTM Introductory Course in Epidemiology and Medical Statistics (ICEMS), MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM
- Tutor: IDM 502 (Tuberculosis) elective module
- Assessor to MSc, PG Diploma and PG Certificate in Infectious Diseases Board of Examiners.
Current trainees:
- Dr. Esin E. Nkereuwem MBChB FWACP PhD, Clinical Research Department, LSHTM & MRC Unit The Gambia - Assistant Professor/Clinical Research Fellow
- Dr. Victory F. Edem BSc PhD, Clinical Research Department, LSHTM & MRC Unit The Gambia - Research Fellow (Immunoepidemiology)
- Dr. Dimple Davray PhD, Clinial Research Department, LSHTM & MRC Unit The Gambia - Research Fellow (Bioinformatics/Computational Biology)
- Dr. Sheila A. Owusu MBChB MPH, Clinical Research Department, LSHTM & MRC Unit The Gambia - PhD student
- Ms. Ellen Lena Sylva, Clinical Research Department, LSHTM & MRC Unit The Gambia - PhD student
Past trainees:
1. Dr Awa Ba Diallo, Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), Dakar, Senegal - WANETAM Postdoctoral Fellow (2019 - 2022)
Research
Toyin Togun has established a trans-disciplinary programme of research and academic training - incorporating epidemiological, laboratory, and qualitative methods - across the continuum of care for paediatric TB, ranging from prevention and diagnosis to the evaluation of post-TB disability.
Toyin is the Principal Investigator/Project Lead on a UKRI/MRC-Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) grant award that is advancing a novel host protein biosignature of childhood TB toward clinical use as a non-sputum-based diagnostic test. He also leads a multicountry and inter-disciplinary platform for clinical, epidemiological and applied health research on Post-TB Lung Disease (PTLD) in African children and adolescents that was established courtesy of a UKRI/GCRF Challenge Clusters research grant. These collaborative projects have underpinning support by key regional and international research, policy and advocacy networks, including the West African Regional Network for TB Control (WARN-TB), West African Paediatric TB Network (WApTBNet), Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS), and the Lung Health Department of the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (IUATLD).
In addition, Toyin is the Work Programme Leader for TB in the fourth iteration of the EDCTP-funded West African Networks of Excellence for TB, AIDS and Malaria (WANETAM-4) - a consortium of more than 30 academic, research, and national public health institutions across West Africa and Europe. The TB Work Programme within the WANETAM consortium aims to improve the diagnosis, management, and surveillance of TB through the conduct of relevant multi-country and interdisciplinary research studies of drug susceptible- and drug resistant-TB in West Africa.
Toyin's focus on global health research is at the intersection of social justice and equality. As such, he is very committed to the promotion of equitable partnerships in global health research and education and in building capacity of early and mid-career researchers, in Africa in particular.
Key words: Childhood tuberculosis; Global health diagnostics; Immunoepidemiology; Implementation research; Equitable partnerships
Selected Publications
