International Advisory Panel

Director Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Tropical Medicine Having undergone initial training in Newcastle upon Tyne, David Lalloo trained in General (Internal) Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, spending three years in Papua New Guinea. He undertook clinical and laboratory research in Oxford before moving as Senior Lecturer to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1999. Since then he has focused on clinical trials in the tropics, particularly in HIV related infections, malaria and envenoming. He currently has collaborations and studies in a number of countries including Malawi, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Kenya, Nigeria, eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland) and South Africa. He has worked with the MLW Programme in Malawi for almost twenty years. He holds an appointment as an Honorary Consultant at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and remains clinically active. Prior to taking up the Directorship of LSTM in January 2019, David was Dean of Clinical Sciences and International Public Health and was Director of the Wellcome Trust Liverpool Glasgow Centre for Global Health Research and the Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Programme. He has a strong interest in identifying and supporting young UK clinicians interested in tropical research and strengthening scientific capacity in resource poor settings. He continues to supervise PhD and MD students in a wide variety of infection related areas.

Jane Armitage is Professor of Clinical Trials and Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine in the Nuffield Department of Population Health (NDPH) at the University of Oxford. She joined the Clinical Trial Service Unit, now part of NDPH, in 1990 from a background in clinical medicine, with particular experience in respiratory medicine, geriatrics and diabetes. She has co-ordinated a series of large-scale clinical trials including the MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study, SEARCH and HPS2-THRIVE and ASCEND. Her main research interests are in lipids and the epidemiology of cardiovascular and other chronic disease including osteoporosis.

Anushka Patel is a Professor of Medicine, UNSW Sydney and a cardiologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia. She undertook her medical training at the University of Queensland, with subsequent postgraduate research degrees from Harvard University and the University of Sydney. As the Vice-Principal Director & Chief Scientist of the George Institute for Global Health, she has responsibility for developing and supporting key strategic research activities across the Institute’s offices in Australia, China, India and the UK. Her personal research interests focus on developing affordable, innovative solutions for delivering affordable and effective chronic disease care in the community and in acute care hospital settings. Anushka currently leads and participates in research projects relating to these interests in a number of countries. She is supported by a Principal Research Fellowship from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

Professor Rodgers has a track record in cardiovascular disease prevention, innovation and public-private partnerships, with an interest in scale-able interventions to address major risks to health. He is currently Acting Director of the Cardiovascular Division at The George Institute, Australia and Chair of Clinical Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College of London. He was the Principal Author of the 2002 World Health Report, the main annual publication for WHO. Professor Rodgers has led developments of an affordable four-in-one cardiovascular combination pill ('polypill'). He led a clinical trial program in economically developed and developing countries, funded by the Wellcome Trust, European Union and others. Professor Rodgers also developed a world first cell phone based smoking cessation programme for youth, which disseminated proven health support messages in an age-appropriate, affordable medium. Over 6,000 patients were involved in clinical trials that demonstrated a 50% increase in quit rates. The service has been rolled out by Departments of Health in NZ, UK and India, with over 2 million users to date. A follow-on program delivering cognitive behavioural therapy for depression prevention was successfully trialled among 1,200 at-risk teenagers.