I am Chief Investigator and clinical lead on the blood-stage and transmission blocking malaria vaccine programmes headed by Prof Simon Draper and Prof Sumi Biswas. This programme of work includes testing of first-time-in-man vaccines against both Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax malaria, incorporating controlled human malaria infection to test efficacy. I am currently running a first-time-in-man Phase I/IIa trial of the protein vaccine RH5.1/AS01B, which incorporates the PfRH5 antigen – the first reported target in the P. falciparum merozoite that is highly susceptible to broadly-neutralising vaccine-induced antibodies.
My main research interest is in human challenge models of infection, having completed a DPhil at the Jenner Institute in 2009 which involved development of a human challenge model against tuberculosis, using BCG as a surrogate. Prior to this I was lead investigator on several TB vaccine trials, including that of the first candidate prophylactic TB vaccine to have been administered to HIV-infected individuals.
I am a qualified Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, having completed my specialist training at OUH NHS Trust in 2014, and spent a year working as a Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the Heart of England NHS Trust in Birmingham. I continue working there as an Honorary Consultant.
