Peter Smith | |
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Professor of Tropical Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine | |
Assumed office 1989 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Peter George Smith 3 May 1942 |
Occupation | Epidemiologist |
Peter George Smith (born 3 May 1942) is a British epidemiologist who is Professor of Tropical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
Peter Smith graduated in mathematics from City University, London and joined the Medical Research Council's Statistical Research Unit in 1965. He went on to work on various aspects of epidemiological and statistical research including: MRC Clinical and Population Cytogenetics Research Unit, Edinburgh (1967–69); Makerere University Medical School, Uganda (1970–71); International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France and Uganda (1971–72); Imperial Cancer Research Fund Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Oxford (1972–79). He joined LSHTM in 1979 to head the Tropical Epidemiology Unit. In 1987 he was placed at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston and was also involved in the Tropical Diseases Research Programme of WHO in that year. He headed the Department of Epidemiology and Population Sciences at the LSHTM from 1990-96. In 1997 the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases was formed at the LSHTM, which he headed until 2002. He is currently Professor of Tropical Epidemiology. [1]
Research interests include large-scale intervention studies against tropical diseases, including vaccine trials. Peter has also been involved in recent years in research on the link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans. From 1996 to 2004 he served on the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, which advises the UK government on BSE and related issues. He was the acting chair of the committee from 1999–2001 and was the chair from August 2001 to July 2004. He also serves on a number of international committees relating to intervention studies against some of the major tropical diseases. [1]
Peter Smith received professional recognition with the presentation of:
He was honoured with:
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The institution was founded in 1899 by Sir Patrick Manson, after a donation from the Indian Parsi philanthropist B. D. Petit.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is responsible for co-coordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is part of United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), which came into operation 1 April 2018, and brings together the UK's seven research councils, Innovate UK and Research England. UK Research and Innovation is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
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