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Prof Deborah Watson-Jones

Professor of Clinical Epidemiology

United Kingdom

Deborah Watson-Jones is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology & International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has been based at the Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit (MITU) in Mwanza, Tanzania since 1995. Her research interests include HPV epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa, the evaluation of a single dose of prophylactic HPV vaccines in females and males through the DoRIS and Add-Vacc trials in Tanzania, and evaluation of Ebola and COVID-19 vaccines in Sierra Leone and Mpox. She is the principal investigator of the DoRIS and Add-Vacc trials and thewco-lead of the Global HPV Burden Study which is measuring the burden of HPV in females in 5 African and 3 South Asian countries. She is a member of the Single-Dose HPV Vaccine Evaluation Consortium, the International Papillomavirus Society, the WHO Blue Print and the WHO Filovirus Collaborative Open Research Consortium (CORC).

 

Affiliations

Department of Clinical Research
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

Centres

Centre for Evaluation
Centre for Maternal Adolescent Reproductive & Child Health
Vaccine Centre

Research

Her research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of HPV and related infections and research on HPV vaccine and Ebola vaccines. She has conducted studies in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone DRC, and Mongolia. Her initial work in Mwanza was on the impact and prevention of congenital syphilis. She was the principal investigator (PI) on the first trial to investigate whether suppressing herpes infections could reduce HIV incidence in Tanzanian females in Mwanza region. She co-led the first trial on the immunogenicity and safety of HPV vaccines in sub-Saharan Africa and led a trial in Mwanza to investigate HPV vaccine delivery strategies. She has led on evaluation of lessons learnt from HPV vaccine introductions in low- and middle-income countries which has informed policy on HPV vaccine delivery.
She is the PI of the DoRIS randomised trial that is currently evaluating the immunogenicity of single-dose HPV vaccines in Tanzanian girls and the Add-Vacc cluster randomised trial evaluating the impact of single dose HPV vaccination to males. She is a member of the Single-Dose HPV Vaccine Evaluation Consortium. She led the EBOVAC1 and EBOVAC3 consortia that evaluated the safety and immunogenicity and provided evidence for the licensing for emergency use of the 2-dose prophylactic Ebola vaccines.


 

Research Area
Clinical trials
Global health
Epidemiology
Immunology
Vaccines
Climate change
Disease and Health Conditions
Human papillomavirus (HPV)
Ebola virus
Infectious diseases
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Tropical diseases
Syphilis
Marburg virus
Sexually transmitted infections
Region
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only)
South Asia

Selected Publications

Setting Up a Quality-managed Laboratory for Clinical Vaccine Trials During Public Health Emergencies in a Resource-constrained Setting: The Sierra Leone Experience.
Bolarinde, L; WATSON-JONES, D;
2025
IFCC-EFLM EuroMedLab Congress in Brussels, Belgium
Assessment of Relative Contributions of Lifestyle, Behavioral and Biological Risk Factors for Cervical Human Papillomavirus Infections in Female Sex Workers
Morhason-Bello, I; Kim, K; Bello, Y; Zheng, Y; Oyerinde, S; Idowu, OC; Pavón, MÁ; Baisley, K; Wang, J; Fowotade, A; Maiga, M; Jonah, M; Christian, EN; Ogunbiyi, O; Adewole, I; Hou, L; Francis, SC; WATSON-JONES, D;
2025
Viruses
Using an analogue-digital hybrid clinical data management platform during a two-dose preventive Ebola virus vaccine trial in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
WATSON-JONES, D; Brindle, HE; Tetsatata, D; Edwards, T; Choi, E; Kambale, K; Aboubacar, S; Mambula, G; Kavunga, H; Grais, R; Johnson, J; Bausch, D; Muyembe, J-J; Baisa, W; LEES, S; Camacho, A; Roberts, C;
2025
PLOS Global Public Health
Durability of immunogenicity at 5 years after a single dose of human papillomavirus vaccine compared with two doses in Tanzanian girls aged 9-14 years: results of the long-term extension of the DoRIS randomised trial.
WATSON-JONES, D; Changalucha, J; Maxwell, C; Whitworth, H; Mutani, P; Kemp, TJ; Kamala, B; Indangasi, J; Constantine, G; Hashim, R; Mwanzalima, D; Wiggins, R; Mmbando, D; Connor, N; Pavon, MA; Lowe, B; KAPIGA, S; MAYAUD, P; De Sanjosé, S; Dillner, J; HAYES, RJ; Lacey, CJ; Pinto, L; BAISLEY, K;
2025
The Lancet. Global health
Evaluation of waning of IgG antibody responses after rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP and Ad26.ZEBOV, MVA-BN-Filo Ebola virus disease vaccines: a modelling study from the PREVAC randomized trial.
Valayer, S; Alexandre, M; Prague, M; Beavogui, AH; Doumbia, S; Kieh, M; GREENWOOD, B; Leigh, B; Poupelin, M; Schwimmer, C; Sow, SO; Berry, IM; Kuhn, JH; Fusco, D; Cauwelaert, ND; Watson-Jones, D; Thiébaut, R; Lévy, Y; Yazdanpanah, Y; Richert, L; Lhomme, E; PREVAC Study Team,; Aboulhab, J; Aguirre-MacKenzie, M; Akoo, P; ... Zhou, H.
2024
Emerging microbes & infections
Pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: a systematic review.
Kasonia, K; Brindle, H; MANNO, D; EDWARDS, T; Gardais, S; Mambula, G; Mossoko, Z; CHOI, EM; Connor, NE; Mukadi, P; Grais, RF; Keshinro, B; ROBERTS, CH; Kavunga-Membo, H; Bausch, DG; Muyembe, J-J; WATSON-JONES, D;
2024
Frontiers in global women's health
Ethical issues in vaccine trial participation by adolescents: qualitative insights on family decision making from a human papillomavirus vaccine trial in Tanzania.
Frost, L; Erio, T; Whitworth, H; Marwerwe, MG; HAYES, R; BAISLEY, K; De SanJosé, S; WATSON-JONES, D; Mitchell, K;
2024
BMC medical ethics
Single-dose human papillomavirus vaccination: an update.
Kreimer, AR; WATSON-JONES, D; Kim, JJ; Dull, P;
2024
Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs
Development and piloting of an electronic rumours (e-rumours) tracking tool in support of single-dose, male HPV vaccination in the Add-VACC trial in northwest Tanzania.
WATSON-JONES, D;
2024
International Papillomavirus Conference
Impact of age at vaccination and sexual activity on HPV vaccine immunogenicity at 5 years after a single dose in the DoRIS trial in Tanzania
WATSON-JONES, D;
2024
International Papillomavirus Conference
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