Population health analytics and implementation group

The research group lead is Professor Jonathan Valabhji, OBE, MD, FRCP, Clinical Chair in Medicine at Imperial College London and Honorary Consultant Diabetologist at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Professor Valabhji is also the National Specialty Advisor for Multiple Long-Term Conditions at NHS England. Prior to this he was the National Clinical Director for Diabetes and Obesity at NHS England for over a decade, during which he established the Diabetes and Obesity National Programmes with a broad portfolio of workstreams.

Professor Valabhji successfully made the case for and led the implementation of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. Over 1.8 million people with pre-diabetes have now been referred into the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme and published research has demonstrated reduced incidence of Type 2 diabetes both in programme participants and at English population level associated with programme implementation.

Professor Valabhji was awarded the Diabetes UK Banting Memorial Lecture in 2025 and highlighted the increasing prevalence of MLTC in people living with diabetes. His drive to research into and address this growing epidemic has led to recent published research highlighting the burden of long-term conditions associated with diabetes at a population level. The research group is now evaluating the impact of intensive lifestyle interventions on the incidence of other and multiple long-term conditions within the real-world setting.

Dr Shivani Misra is a Wellcome Trust Clinical Fellow and Associate Professor. Her group investigates early-onset type 2 diabetes using genetic and epidemiological approaches  and the big data analytics intersects with the population health analytics led by Professor Valabhji. Dr Misra led the analysis of DKA episodes during the COVID-19 pandemic using population data and now oversees implementation of the national T2DAY programme. Her current research studies the epidemiology of early-onset type 2 diabetes in England and her research is funded by the Wellcome Trust, Novo Nordisk Foundation and Breakthrough T1D.

Dr David Hope is a Clinical Associate Professor in Diabetes working within both Imperial College London and as an honorary Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He has broad experience in translational and experimental medicine, previously completing doctoral research within the department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction. His current research focuses on leveraging real-world data to identify interventional opportunities at the interface of diabetes and MLTC. 

Dr Daniel Morganstein is Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Diabetologist and Endocrinologist, whose research focus relates to diabetes and cancer, using big datasets to investigate both the higher incidence of some cancers in people with diabetes, and the poorer cancer outcomes experienced by people with diabetes.

The research group consists of a diverse and enthusiastic team which benefits from data analytic and translational research expertise. Emma Barron is Senior Analytical Manager and Health Intelligence Analyst at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and brings a wealth of experience as a senior data analyst, first at Public Health England and then at NHS England, and supported evaluation and iterative development of a number of national diabetes programmes of work, including the national type 2 diabetes prevention and remission programmes. 

Manal K. Elzalabany is a senior data analyst with broad expertise in population health data analyses; in World Health Organization & in Academic institutions in Lebanon & Germany, where she worked on COVID-19 & multiple infectious diseases data analytics. She also supported research & data analyses of the Syrian Conflict & its humanitarian response. Her current work also includes population level emulation studies of major diabetes treatment and cardiovascular outcome trials.

Dr Jenifar Prashanthan is a visiting Clinical Research Fellow, having completed clinical training in Diabetes & Endocrinology in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She has a specific research interest in diabetes in pregnancy and addresses health inequalities as part of an ongoing project.

Funders

• NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Northwest London
• CW+, the official for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (2024-27).
• National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Programme Grant: “Supporting Weight Management to improve long term outcomes of weight management interventions” (2024-29)
• EU Horizon/UK Research and Innovation Guarantee Funding: “Real-World Evidence for Decisions in Diabetes” (REDDIE) (2023-2026).
• NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research: Develop and Evaluate a Multifactorial Intervention to Improve Cardiovascular Outcomes in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes and Current or Previous Diabetic Foot Ulcers (MiFoot) (2021-2026).
• NIHR Global Health Research Unit and Network for Diabetes and Cardiovascular disease in South Asia. National Institute for Health and Care Research (London, London, GB)1 Sep 2021 - 30 Sep 2026

 Internal

• Professor Azeem Majeed, Chair in Primary Care and Public Health & Head of Department
• Dr Sadia Khan, Consultant Cardiologist and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer
• Professor Tricia Tan, Chair in Metabolic Medicine and Endocrinology
• Professor Edward Gregg, Chair in Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology
• Professor John Chambers, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine & Epidemiology

External

• Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Professor of primary care diabetes and vascular medicine
• Dr Amy Ahern, Programme Leader & Principal Research Associate

Selected Publications that focus on harnessing the power of real-world datasets in England for epidemiological purposes and to support evaluation of national programmes:

• Valabhji, J., Gorton, T., Barron, E., Safazadeh, S., Earnshaw, F., Helm, C., . . . Bakhai, C. (2024). Early findings from the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme: a prospective evaluation of real-world implementation. The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology, 12(9), 653-663. 
• Gregg, E. W., Pratt, A., Owens, A., Barron, E., Dunbar-Rees, R., Slade, E. T., . . . Valabhji, J. (2024). The burden of diabetes-associated multiple long-term conditions on years of life spent and lost. Nature Medicine. 
• Valabhji, J., Holman, N., Collins, N., Young, R. J., Chadwick, P., Robinson, A., . . . Dhatariya, K. (2024). Can the introduction of a 12-lead ECG help reduce mortality in those presenting with foot ulceration to multidisciplinary diabetic foot clinics? An observational evaluation of a real-world implementation pilot in England. DIABETOLOGIA, 67(7), 1304-1314. 
• Taylor, K., Indulkar, T., Thompson, B., Pinkard, C., Barron, E., Frost, T., . . . Valabhji, J. (2024). Early outcomes of referrals to the English National Health Service Digital Weight Management Programme. OBESITY, 32(6), 1083-1092. 
• Barron, E., Sharp, S. J., Khunti, K., Bakhai, C., Wareham, N. J., & Valabhji, J. (2024). Prediabetes, participation in the English National Health Service Diabetes Prevention Programme, and associations with COVID-19-related mortality: A whole population study. DIABETES RESEARCH AND CLINICAL PRACTICE, 212, 9 pages. 
• Valabhji, J., Barron, E., Pratt, A., Hafezparast, N., Dunbar-Rees, R., Turner, E. B., . . . Khunti, K. (2024). Prevalence of multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity) in England: a whole population study of over 60 million people. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE, 117(3), 104-117.
• Barron, E., Bradley, D., Safazadeh, S., McGough, B., Bakhai, C., Young, B., . . . Valabhji, J. (2023). Effectiveness of digital and remote provision of the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme during the COVID-19 pandemic. DIABETIC MEDICINE, 40(5), 11 pages. 
• Valabhji, J., Barron, E., Gorton, T., Bakhai, C., Kar, P., Young, B., . . . Wareham, N. J. (2022). Associations between reductions in routine care delivery and non-COVID-19-related mortality in people with diabetes in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based parallel cohort study. LANCET DIABETES & ENDOCRINOLOGY, 10(7), 561-570. 
• Barron, E., Bakhai, C., Kar, P., Weaver, A., Bradley, D., Ismail, H., . . . Valabhji, J. (2020). Associations of type 1 and type 2 diabetes with COVID-19-related mortality in England: a whole-population study. LANCET DIABETES & ENDOCRINOLOGY, 8(10), 813-822. 
• Valabhji, J., Barron, E., Bradley, D., Bakhai, C., Fagg, J., O'Neill, S., . . . Smith, J. (2020). Early Outcomes From the English National Health Service Diabetes Prevention Programme. DIABETES CARE, 43(1), 152-160. 
• Hope DCD, Ansari S, Choudhury S, Alexiadou K, Tabbakh Y, Ilesanmi I, Lazarus K, Davies I, Jimenez-Pacheco L, Yang W, Ball LJ, Malviya R, Reglinska B, Khoo B, Minnion J, Bloom SR, Tan TM. Adaptive infusion of a glucagon-like peptide-1/glucagon receptor co-agonist G3215, in adults with overweight or obesity: Results from a phase 1 randomized clinical trial. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2024 Apr;26(4):1479-1491. 
• Hope DCD, Hinds CE, Lopes T, Vincent ML, Shrewsbury JV, Yu ATC, Davies I, Scott R, Jones B, Murphy KG, Minnion JS, Sardini A, Carling D, Lutz TA, Bloom SR, Tan TMM, Owen BM. Hypoaminoacidemia underpins glucagon-mediated energy expenditure and weight loss. Cell Rep Med. 2022 Nov 15;3(11):100810. 

• NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP)
• The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme
• NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme