The NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Respiratory Infections are pleased to host Professor Benjamin Cowling MBE, FFPH; NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infection ISAB Chair, Chair of Epidemiology and Head of Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Hong Kong (HKU).
Professor Cowling will give a talk on ‘Epidemiology and control of COVID-19 in Hong Kong‘.
Biography
Professor Benjamin Cowling joined the School of Public Health (SPH) at HKU in 2004. Prior to moving to Hong Kong, he graduated with a PhD in medical statistics at the University of Warwick (UK) in 2003, and spent a year as a postdoc at Imperial College London (UK). Professor Cowling has been the Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics since 2013. He is responsible for teaching the introductory module in epidemiology on the MPH curriculum, and is the chairman of the Departmental Research Postgraduate Committee. Prof Cowling is a co-director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control at HKU SPH.
Prof Cowling’s primary research focus is in infectious disease epidemiology. In recent years he has designed and implemented large field studies of influenza transmission in the community and the effectiveness and impact of control measures. His latest research has focused on the modes of respiratory virus transmission, influenza vaccination effectiveness, and immunity to infections at the individual and population level. He has strong links with China CDC, and the NIGMS-funded Harvard Centre for Communicable Disease Dynamics.