Key people
The School of Public Health and its Departments are headed by exceptional staff with a wealth of experience in public health research.
Professor Elio Riboli
Director, School of Public Health
Professor Riboli was appointed Director of the School of Public Health in 2010. He holds an M.D. degree (1977, State University of Milan), a Master of Public Health (1980, Milan) and a Master of Science in Epidemiology (1982, Harvard University). Professor Riboli is a Registered Physician (General Medical Council, UK, 2005) and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (2008). Professor Riboli’s research has focussed on nutrition and cancer. He has co-authored over 310 peer-reviewed publications and over 100 book chapters and books and serves on editorial boards of major journals on nutrition, cancer and epidemiology. In 2005 Professor Riboli joined Imperial College London as Professor of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention; in 2006 he was appointed Head of the Division of Epidemiology, Public Health and Primary Care, and became Director when the School of Public Health was established in January 2010.
Professor Paul Elliott
Head, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Head, MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health
Professor Elliott trained in clinical medicine and epidemiology as a Wellcome Trust Clinical Fellow at St Mary's Hospital London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He was Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer and Reader in Epidemiology before becoming Head of the Environmental Epidemiology Unit at LSHTM 1990-95. He moved to Imperial in 1995 when he was appointed to the Chair in Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine and Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. He also holds positions as Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine with the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Kensington & Chelsea PCT. Professor Elliott’s research focuses on the effect environment has on public health such as the role of dietary factors in the epidemiology of high blood pressure. His research has led him to conduct and design large-scale, prospective population cohort studies, for example, the COSMOS international cohort study of mobile phone use and long-term health.
Professor Philippe Froguel
Head, Department of Genomics of Common Diseases
Professor Froguel is a physician and diabetologist with a research focus on the cause of type II diabetes and its link to obesity. In particular, he aims to develop more personalised medicines for diabetic and obese patients by finding genetic biomarkers and customising the treatment accordingly. Sequencing the entire genome of diabetic and obese patients could aid disease treatment and prevention strategies. There are 700,000 people in UK with morbid obesity and this figure is rising. Although environmental factors are important, genetics also play a role. With genetic data it could be possible to stratify people according to their genetics then correlate this information with the environmental factors they experience. Professor Froguel’s work could help reduce this obesity in the UK and beyond.
- Personal profile
Professor Deborah Ashby
Joint Director, Imperial Clinical Trials Unit
Professor Ashby holds the Chair in Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials at Imperial. Prior to her appointment in 2008, she held the Chair in Medical Statistics at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London. She held academic appointments in Medical Statistics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and Department of Public Health at the University of Liverpool from 1987-1997 and has an extensive teaching and statistical consultancy career. Her research interests are in clinical trials, systematic reviews, safety of medicines, and the utility of Bayesian statistical approaches in these areas. Professor Ashby was awarded an OBE for Services to Medicine and is an advisor on health economics and capacity development for NIHR. Her current studies include research into gene therapy and other therapies for cystic fibrosis, management of pain, and prevention of diabetes.
Professor Brian Spratt
Head, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Molecular epidemiology and the population and evolutionary biology of bacterial pathogens
In the 1970's, I developed methods to detect the penicillin-sensitive enzymes of peptidoglycan synthesis as penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) and dissected the role of the Escherichia coli PBPs in cell elongation, cell division and cell shape. Subsequently, I worked on mechanisms of resistance to penicillin and the role of inter-species recombination and then became interested in the extent of recombination in bacteria and in their population biology. More recently we developed new tools for identifying strains of bacterial pathogens - particularly multilocus sequence typing (MLST). At present our laboratory is mainly interested in bringing together molecular epidemiology and the population and evolutionary biology of bacterial pathogens.
We also have interests in developing new ways of assigning bacteria to species via the internet (eMLSA.net) and in the concept of species, in using high resolution strain characterisation for gonorrhoea and Chlamydia to identify individuals in sexual networks, and in bio informatics. Our interests in the latter extend from developing software for molecular epidemiology to Android software for smart phones with applications in community projects in ecology and epidemiology and for school kids/citizen scientists (EpiCollect).
Professor Neil Ferguson
Director, MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling
Professor Ferguson’s research aims to improve understanding of the epidemiological factors and population processes shaping infectious disease spread in human and animal populations. A key practical focus is the analysis and optimisation of intervention strategies aimed at limiting the spread of disease both in a host population or an infected individual.
Professor Ferguson’s research has included work on childhood infections, BSE and vCJD, HIV, foot and mouth disease and influenza. In 2001 Professor Ferguson played a significant role in analysing data from the foot and mouth epidemic and advising on control policy options. His current research focuses on developing mathematical models of the geographic spread of newly emergent pathogens to examine containment and mitigation strategies for pandemic influenza and bioterrorist agents.
Professor Azeem Majeed
Head, Department of Primary Care and Public Health
Professor Majeed joined Imperial as Professor of Primary Care and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health in 2004. He qualified at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff, Wales and is accredited in both General Practice and Public Health Medicine. He began his academic career at St. George's Hospital Medical School as a Lecturer in Epidemiology & Public Health Medicine and was later promoted to Senior Lecturer in Primary Care. He moved to a Senior Lecturer post at University College London and in 2000, he gained a five-year Primary Care Senior Scientist Award, which allowed him to spend more time on research and in 2002 was promoted to Professor by University College London.
His research focuses on chronic disease management, particularly diabetes & cardiovascular disorders, health policy and the organisation and delivery of health care, the use of information for policy, planning and research, and the use of new technology to improve health care.
Professor Lefkos Middleton
Head, Neuroepidemiology of Ageing Unit
Professor Middleton is Head of the Neuroepidemiology and Ageing Research Unit and Mental Health and Honorary Consultant Neurologist, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Hospitals. He studied Medicine and completed his Neurology residency at the Louis Pasteur University Hospital in Strasbourg and in 1980 obtained the French National Board (CES) in Neurology. Between 1980 and 1982 he was appointed Fellow of Presbyterian Hospital and Assistant Professor, Columbia University, New York in Clinical Neurology and Electromyography. After returning to this native Cyprus, Professor Middleton was awarded a US- AID Centre grant to found the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING) of which he became first Chairman.
In 1999 he joined GlaxoWellcome as Head of Medical Genetics and, post the creation of GlaxoSmithKline, he served as Vice President and Head of the new R&D Division of Translational Medicine and Genetics (TMG), based in London.
He is the author of 103 peer review papers, 14 book chapters and reviews and served on the Medical Research Council between 2005-2008. His current research focus is in the genetic epidemiology of neurodegenerative diseases of ageing (Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease) and Amyotrophic lateral Sclerosis.
