ProfessorPeterWhite

Summary

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I am Head of the Modelling & Economics Unit in the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), and I have a part-time position in the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, at Imperial College London. I am also Co-Director of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Modelling and Health Economics at Imperial College London in partnership with UKHSA and LSHTM. I am currently a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on STI Research Priority Setting.

My personal research interests include health systems research, statistical analysis and mathematical modelling of the epidemiology of, and the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions against, sexually transmitted infections (particularly gonorrhoea and Mycoplasma genitalium), tuberculosis, influenza, and COVID-19.

I am a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and was a member of the steering group of the Infectious Disease Research Network (IDRN), and a participant in the NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) Crucible programme.

In addition to lecturing to undergraduate and postgraduate students at Imperial, including on the MSc in Epidemiology, and lecture on the Vaccinology course at Institut Pasteur. I recently helped teach a modelling course for the Public Health Foundation of India, based on Imperial College's professional short course, Introduction to Mathematical Models of the Epidemiology & Control of Infectious Diseases. For the last few years I have organised the (almost) annual one-day course, Introduction to Infectious Disease Modelling to Inform Policy Making.

Collaborative studies of STIs, HIV, TB and influenza LSHTM, Queen Mary, University of London, University College London, the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Warwick, and others.

The BBC (in its Panorama and news webpages) and the Times newspaper have reported modelling work from the Patsi study of the epidemiological impact of difficulties that previously existed in obtaining STI healthcare in the UK. We showed how failing to provide adequate capacity to treat curable infectious disease (in this case, gonorrhoea) creates a vicious circle by allowing further spreading of infection and so creating more demand for treatment. In contrast, providing adequate capacity creates a virtuous circle where most potential spreading is prevented, keeping infection rates and demand for treatment low. Investing in increased capacity, to break the vicious circle, greatly reduces numbers of future infections and so offers cost savings as well as improving health. This work has also been presented at the House of Commons (UK Parliament). Following this work, increased resources were made available for sexual health, and access to care improved. There is a summary for public-health officials and policy-makers available. With sexual health clinics becoming stretched once more and STIs such as gonorrhoea increasing rapidly, we may be in a similar situation once again - made worse by antimicrobial resistance.

Workshops and seminars attended include:
*WHO Global Technical Meeting on Gonococcal Infection Modelling, Mar 2021.
*WHO Global Technical Meeting on Gonococcal Infection Modelling, Jan 2021.
*WHO Gonococcal vaccine preferred product characteristics consultation, May 2020.
*PRISM² meeting, University of Melbourne, Nov 2019.
*NIHR HPRUs Workshop on Health Protection Research Modelling, Mar 2019 (which I organised).
*Pharmacokinetics UK (PKUK) meeting, Manchester, Nov 2018.
*MIDAS Network meeting, Atlanta, May 2017.
*PRISM CRE Annual Workshop, University of Melbourne, May 2016.
*Brainstorm about a National Infectious Disease Forecasting Center, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2015.
*The INfluENCE Event – 31st July 2015.
*Performance of England’s National Pandemic Flu Service in rapid mass treatment and surveillance, Harvard School of Public Health, 2015.
*Tackling TB in the UK in the Age of Austerity: ensuring we use novel tools and approaches cost-effectively, Yale University, 2015.
*Symposium on Mathematical approaches to better understand and tackle tuberculosis, IUATLD conference, Barcelona, 2014.
*WHO: Practical Short Course on Influenza and Other Infectious Disease Modelling, Dubai, 2014.
*IDRN Introduction to Infectious Disease Modelling, 2014.
*AHVLA Modelling Workshop, 2014.
*PHE course, Health economics: what public health professionals need to know, 2014.
*Invited presentation, Tackling TB in the UK in the Age of Austerity, Harvard School of Public Health, Institut Pasteur, and Robert Koch Institute, 2014.
*UCL IPH Research forum, 2014.
*CDC modeling course, Atlanta, 2014.
*Indian Institute of Public Health: Infectious Disease Modelling workshop, Delhi, 2013.
*WHO: Practical Short Course on Influenza and Other Infectious Disease Modelling, London, 2013.
*CONSISE (CONsortium for the Standardization of Influenza SeroEpidemiology) meeting, Cape Town, 2013.
*Healthcare Efficiency Through Technology, London, 2013.
*UK Diagnostics Forum: Improving the evidence for diagnostic tests, Oxford, 2013.
*CSaP annual conference 2013: Future directions for scientific advice in Whitehall.
*CONSISE (CONsortium for the Standardization of Influenza SeroEpidemiology) meeting, Hong Kong, 2013.
*MIDAS Dynamics of Preparedness conference, Pittsburgh, 2012.
*Global Health Economics Excellence meeting, Stockholm, 2012.
*Epiwork/Epifor 2nd International Workshop, Facing the Challenge of Infectious Diseases, Aosta, 2012.
*Masters’ Class From Data to Decision: How to Integrate Modeling Methodologies to Inform Public Health Policy, Vancouver, 2012.
*British Academy Conference, Modelling for Policy, London, 2012.
*MIDAS Behavioral Workshop, Atlanta, 2012.
*UNITAID workshop on methodology for public health impact, 2012.
*HIV modelling consortium workshop, Montreux, 2011.
*CDC modeling course, Atlanta, 2011.
*International Forum on Pandemic Influenza 2010, Qingdao, China.
*Consultation on Metrics, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Research (MMER) for President Barack Obama’s new Global Health Initiative, 2009.
*DIMACS Workshop on Mathematical Models for Behavioral Epidemiology.
*ECDC Influenza A(H1N1)v modelling working group.
*WHO Informal Network for Mathematical Modelling of H1N1.
*BMGF Vaccine Modeling Initiative meeting, Pittsburgh.
*NCCID HIV/STBBI Knowledge Synthesis and Exchange Forum, Toronto.
*Meeting the Demand for Male Circumcision: An assessment of what is needed, Kampala.
*Male Circumcision for HIV risk reduction: Decision Makers'' Programme Planning Tool and Consensus Statement meeting, London.
*Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors meeting, Seattle.
*Department of Health (UK): Health Economics of Interventions in Sexual Health.
*National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (UK): Economic Evaluation in Public Health.
*LEAD International: HIV/STD & Eco-Health Systems, Dakar, Senegal.

I studied biochemistry at Cambridge, then went to Oxford for my MSc, before studying for my PhD in Stirling, with Prof Peter Hudson (now at Penn State) and Dr Rachel Norman. I joined the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College in 2002. Prior to becoming a lecturer I was a postdoc, funded by the Wellcome Trust and then UNAIDS. I took up my position at the Health Protection Agency (now Public Health England) in April 2009.

Imperial College's professional short course, Introduction to Mathematical Models of the Epidemiology & Control of Infectious Diseases, is aimed at public health professionals, policy-makers and researchers who want to learn about the basic principles and practical applications of mathematical modelling and modern quantitative methods, and has been running for two decades.

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