Tell us about your current research

I am currently in the third year of my PhD, which focuses on the impact of human behaviour and COVID-19 control measures on contact rates and disease transmission in Japan and the United Kingdom. I work closely with Kathleen O’Reilly, Koya Ariyoshi (Nagasaki University) and Motoi Suzuki (National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan).

I conducted social contact surveys in Japan in 2021-2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, similar to the CoMix study in the UK, led by LSHTM. These surveys have been essential in quantifying person-to-person contact to better understand the transmission patterns of SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious diseases. I’m now developing a statistical model to evaluate individual, household and behavioural characteristics that influenced contact patterns in Japan during the pandemic.

I plan to delve deeper into the impact of disease mitigation measures and behavioural patterns on SARS-CoV-2 transmission by comparing Japan and the UK. Both countries had vastly different policies during the pandemic – the UK implemented multiple lockdowns while Japan didn’t have any but had very strict border control. The social contact surveys in Japan showed that the majority of the population wore masks indoors and outdoors, and this frequency stayed consistent throughout 2021-2022. Consequently, the two countries had very different epidemiological patterns of COVID-19, and yet many questions remain. What disease mitigation measures impacted SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Japan and the UK? Why did we see such differences in incidence rates of COVID-19 in these countries?

I hope to answer some of these questions by using mathematical modelling and social contact data from Japan and the UK.

How did you first become interested in your topic?

The initial plan for my PhD was to focus on rotavirus since my previous work was on rotavirus and paediatric diarrhoea. However, I started my PhD right in the middle of the pandemic, and since I had spent time living in Europe and Japan, I experienced first-hand the vast differences in governmental policies and human behaviour. This made me curious as to why we continued to see differences in incidence and deaths related to COVID-19 in Japan and the UK. Since my goal was to sharpen my skills in infectious disease epidemiology and mathematical modelling, it was the perfect time to switch my topic to COVID-19. My PhD is funded by the joint PhD programme with LSHTM and Nagasaki University, so my topic was ideal and allowed me to work closely with my supervisors in Japan and the UK.   

Describe your career journey so far

Prior to starting my PhD, I was a Technical Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva where I worked as an epidemiologist in vaccine preventable disease surveillance. With my WHO team, we coordinated the global surveillance networks of invasive bacterial diseases[1], rotavirus and paediatric diarrhoeal diseases[2][3]. Since I have a laboratory background, I also trained the hospital and national laboratories participating in the surveillance networks on diagnostics and quality control. Being on the ground to build capacity was essential in maintaining a high-quality, sustainable surveillance network.

Before I started working in public health, I was in cancer research focusing on paediatric bone marrow failure syndromes at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre (Seattle, WA). Since I had studied biochemistry during my undergraduate years, I worked in the laboratory where I applied molecular biology techniques to discover the genetic causes of these bone marrow failures.

I was keen on translating the results from the lab to the wider population, which led me to study epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where I received my Master’s. As part of my research project, I spent three months in Nepal, where I learned how community-based cluster randomised controlled trials were conducted in low-resource settings. The trial was on evaluating the effectiveness of maternal influenza immunisation. Shortly after my Master’s, I worked at PATH (Seattle, WA) as an epidemiologist to evaluate newly developed rapid diagnostic tests to detect asymptomatic malaria cases. These experiences opened my eyes to the field of infectious diseases, in which I could combine epidemiology, laboratory and vaccine science.  

What are your goals for the future?

My first goal is to finish my PhD! Following my PhD, I would like to be in an environment where research is valued and where knowledge can be translated into policy. After having worked on the COVID-19 response at WHO, as well as at the prefectural office in Fukuoka, Japan, I realised that knowledge and science communication go hand-in-hand to create and implement effective policy during a pandemic. I hope to bridge the gap between academia and policymaking by utilising the skills learned throughout my PhD.  

What’s your favourite thing about working at LSHTM?

Definitely the people I’ve met through CMMID, in-person and through our Slack channel. Even though a lot of us were working from home throughout the pandemic, I remained connected with everyone through Slack. I appreciated the frequent online seminars and the random coffee chats where we were randomly assigned to someone each week to have an informal chat. This was a great way to meet new people; from professors to students. Having such a platform sparked casual discussions on our research, and everyone has been very open and friendly, so I’ve got help and feedback whenever necessary.

Do you have any advice or tips for other early career researchers?

Reach out to other PhD students, research fellows and professors. Global health is a small world, so you never know what kind of connections you might have with others until you speak to them! They will also most likely be your future colleagues even after leaving LSHTM, so take advantage of the open, inclusive environment that CMMID offers and get to know each other.

How can people get in contact with you?

Email: Tomoka.Nakamura@lshtm.ac.uk

Twitter: @epitomoka

[1] Nakamura T et al., The Global Landscape of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Data Reported to the World Health Organization–Coordinated Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2014–2019, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab217

[2] Hartman RM et al., Risk Factors for Mortality Among Children Younger Than Age 5 Years With Severe Diarrhea in Low- and Middle-income Countries: Findings From the World Health Organization-coordinated Global Rotavirus and Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance Networks, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciac561

[3] Cohen AL, Platts-Mills JA, Nakamura T, et al., Aetiology and incidence of diarrhoea requiring hospitalisation in children under 5 years of age in 28 low-income and middle-income countries: findings from the Global Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance network, BMJ Global Health, 2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009548