London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

John Edmunds, Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), has received a knighthood in recognition of his influential work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was honoured for services to epidemiology following intense research and collaboration using models to provide crucial data analysis to better understand the spread of infection. His world-leading research also includes applying these methods to real world problems to enable decision makers to design public health control programmes.

Professor Sir John Edmunds was previously made an OBE in 2016 for services to infectious disease control, particularly during the west African Ebola crisis. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2018.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, his research was vital to inform the UK response. He served on a number of committees including the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and published many papers tracking transmission of the virus and modelling interventions to control the spread. He also helped to inform the public by providing expert insights to the media and gave evidence to the COVID Inquiry late last year.

He said: “Science is a team game. Ideally, this award should go to the whole of the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases for their amazing work during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am happy to accept it on their behalf.”

A number of other LSHTM experts were also honoured in the New Year Honours list.

Nicholas Paton, Professor of Infectious Diseases, was made an OBE for services to global health. He has led major global trials including for treatments for HIV and TB, and holds a joint appointment at LSHTM and the National University of Singapore.

Stephen Evans, Emeritus Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology, was made an MBE for services to safety of medicines. His research focuses on assessing the effects of medicines, both drugs and vaccines, and he helped start the LSHTM short course in pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance.

Professor Liam Smeeth, Director of LSHTM, said: “It’s wonderful to see this recognition of the work done by the School’s staff. Congratulations to all the recipients for their dedication and service.”