Professor Jonathan Valabhji

Summary

Jonathan Valabhji, OBE, MD, FRCP is Clinical Chair in Medicine at Imperial College London, and Honorary Consultant Diabetologist at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. From April 2013 until September 2023 he was National Clinical Director for Diabetes and Obesity at NHS England; he established the NHS England Diabetes and Obesity Programmes, with a broad portfolio of national work streams involving lifestyle interventions, clinical care, and technological support for diabetes self-management.

As National Clinical Director, he led rapid translation of high-quality diabetes research into national policy and practice and has established models for evaluation to assess translational impact. He successfully made the case for, and led implementation of, the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, including digital modes of delivery, with over 1.3 million people with pre-diabetes now referred in, and published evidence demonstrating reduced Type 2 diabetes incidence in programme participants and at English population level associated with programme implementation.

His current research interests involve application of real-world data to support population health and health improvement, through implementation and quality assurance of specific interventions, and healthcare delivery at English population level. He developed unique expertise over the last decade in national health system leadership, policy development, and health system implementation within England. His research interests and outputs reflect the corresponding work streams that he has developed across England over the last decade, with specific current areas of research including:

1. Type 2 diabetes prevention.
2. Type 2 diabetes remission.
3. Complication and mortality outcomes in diabetes.
4. COVID-19 and diabetes.
5. Diabetic foot disease.
6. Real-world data studies in diabetes to support regulatory decision making, development of standards and guidance, and to assess the efficacy to effectiveness gap when findings from randomised controlled trials are applied to care delivery in routine clinical settings.
7. Multiple Long-Term Conditions (MLTC) / Multimorbidity. Applying national datasets he is leading research that investigates the sequence of acquisition of long-term conditions in those with MLTC, and the impact of nationally available lifestyle interventions, such as the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, on the prevention of, the sequence of acquisition of, and the healthcare utilization and costs of, long term conditions and MLTC in England. He is also currently National Clinical Lead for MLTC at NHS England, and is a member of the MLTC Cross-NIHR Collaboration Steering Committee.

He qualified in 1990 from St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, London. In 2019 he was awarded OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for services to diabetes and obesity care.

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