Summary
My research uses rigorous spatial quantitative methods to study a range of epidemiological questions related to non-communicable disease, global health and low- and middle-income countries.
Current projects include a comparison of space-time methods for non-communicable disease surveillance funded by the Wellcome Trust; the development of the Rapid Inquiry Facility - a software for disease mapping and risk analysis; modelling of spatial uncertainty with Emory and Harvard researchers, funded by NIH; and collaborative projects with Brazil, India, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I am a leading expert of the epidemiology and health burden of sickle-cell disease and other haemoglobinopathies. I assembled contemporary evidence to inform public health policies in order to better prevent and manage these disorders, and ultimately improving the quality of life of patients. I am an expert of haemoglobinopathies for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study.
I am the Imperial lead for the Theme 1 - Epidemiological assessment of low level environmental exposures of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Health Impact of Environmental Hazards. I work in collaboration with Public Health England and the National Environmental Public Health Tracking of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
I am also the Training Programme Coordinator for the MRC Centre for Environment and Health, which is a joint collaboration betwen Imperial College London and Kings College London, to offer the best training and career development opportunities to PhD students and early-career fellows.
I acted as the Assitant Director of the UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) between May and October 2018.
I am supervising PhD studentships on environmental factors and the severity of cystic fibrosis, with funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Imperial's MRC-DTP. I am a mentor within the School of Public Health.
My work was published in prestigious medical journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, The Lancet Global Health and PLOS Medicine.
I am a member of the Editorial Board for the Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene and for the Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B (Biomedicine & Biotechnology).
I am Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FGRS) and of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (RSTMH).
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Layton D, Piel F, Telfer P, 2020, Real-time national survey of COVID-19 in hemoglobinopathy and rare inherited anemia patients, Haematologica - the Hematology Journal, Vol:105, ISSN:0390-6078, Pages:2651-2654
Roca-Barceló A, Crabbe H, Ghosh R, et al., 2020, Temporal trends and demographic risk factors for hospital admissions due to carbon monoxide poisoning in England, Preventive Medicine, Vol:136, ISSN:0091-7435
Piel F, 2020, Implementing newborn screening for sickle cell disease as part of immunization programmes in Nigeria: a feasibility study, The Lancet Haematology, Vol:7, ISSN:2352-3026, Pages:e534-e540
Blangiardo M, Boulieri A, Diggle P, et al., 2020, Advances in spatio-temporal models for non-communicable disease surveillance, International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol:49, ISSN:1464-3685, Pages:i26-i37
Piel F, Fecht D, Hodgson S, et al., 2020, Small-area methods for investigation of environment and health, International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol:49, ISSN:1464-3685, Pages:686-699
Piel FB, Parkes B, Hambly P, et al., 2020, Software application profile: the Rapid Inquiry Facility 4.0: an open access tool for environmental public health tracking, International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol:49, ISSN:0300-5771, Pages:i38-i48
Gregory K, Piel FBJ, Elliott V, 2018, Sickle cell disease, Nature Reviews Disease Primers, Vol:4, ISSN:2056-676X
Piel FBJ, Steinberg MH, Rees DC, 2017, Sickle cell disease, New England Journal of Medicine, Vol:376, ISSN:0028-4793, Pages:1561-1573
Piel FB, Tewari S, Brousse V, et al., 2017, Associations between environmental factors and hospital admissions for sickle cell disease, Haematologica - the Hematology Journal, Vol:102, ISSN:0390-6078, Pages:666-675
Tewari S, Brousse V, Piel FB, et al., 2016, Environmental determinants of severity in sickle cell disease, Haematologica - the Hematology Journal, Vol:100, ISSN:0390-6078, Pages:1108-1116
Piel FB, Tatem AJ, Huang Z, et al., 2014, Global migration and the changing distribution of sickle haemoglobin: A quantitative study of temporal trends between 1960 and 2000, The Lancet Global Health, Vol:2, Pages:e80-e89
Piel FB, Patil AP, Howes RE, et al., 2013, Global epidemiology of Sickle haemoglobin in neonates: A contemporary geostatistical model-based map and population estimates, The Lancet, Vol:381, ISSN:0140-6736, Pages:142-151
Piel FB, Hay SI, Gupta S, et al., 2013, Global Burden of Sickle Cell Anaemia in Children under Five, 2010-2050: Modelling Based on Demographics, Excess Mortality, and Interventions, Plos Medicine, Vol:10
Patil AP, Gething PW, Piel FB, et al., 2011, Bayesian geostatistics in health cartography: the perspective of malaria, Trends in Parasitology, Vol:27, ISSN:1471-4922, Pages:245-252
Piel FB, Patil AP, Howes RE, et al., 2010, Global distribution of the sickle cell gene and geographical confirmation of the malaria hypothesis, Nature Communications, Vol:1