Professor Nicholas Grassly

I am an epidemiologist with an interest in infectious diseases and the role of vaccines and drug treatment in their prevention. I head the Vaccine Epidemiology research group within the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London.

I began my research career working on HIV and other sexually transmitted infection, when I was responsible for the UNAIDS epidemiology reference group at Imperial (led by Prof Geoff Garnett). I became a Royal Society University Research Fellow in 2004.

Since that time I have worked extensively on poliovirus, identifying failure of the oral vaccine in India as a major challenge to global eradication. This work has led to clinical trials that aim to improve mucosal immunity and limit vaccine failure, which I am currently pursuing in collaboration with colleagues at the Christian Medical College in Vellore. I am also interested in improving strategies for the mass distribution of azithromycin that aim to reduce transmission of Chlamydia trachomatis and eliminate blindness due to this pathogen. For more details of the current research interests of my group, please click on the link above.

I am the 'stream leader' for infectious disease epidemiology on our Masters in Epidemiology, responsible for the organisation, curriculum and delivery of the infectious disease teaching on this course. I also teach on a number of other undergraduate and postgraduate courses in biology and medicine at Imperial College.

I supervise a number of PhD students working on infectious diseases and vaccine epidemiology. If you are interested in joining our group please email me.

Selected recent publications

O'Reilly KM, Durry E, ul Islam O, Quddus A, Abid N, Mir TP, Tangermann RH, Aylward RB and  Grassly NC (2012). The effect of mass immunisation campaigns and new oral poliovirus vaccines on the incidence of poliomyelitis in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 2001-11: a retrospective analysis. Lancet. Early online publication. [full text]

Grassly NC, Jafari H, Bahl S, Sethi R, Deshpande JM, Wolff C, Sutter RW and Aylward RB (2012). Waning intestinal immunity following vaccination with oral poliovirus vaccines in India. J Infect Dis 205: 1554-1561. [abstract]

Hird TR and Grassly NC (2012). Systematic review of mucosal immunity induced by oral and inactivated poliovirus vaccines against virus shedding following oral poliovirus challenge. PLoS Pathog  8(4): e1002599. [fulltext]

O'Reilly, K. M., C. Chauvin, R. B. Aylward, C. Maher, S. Okiror, C. Wolff, D. Nshmirimana, C. A. Donnelly and N. C. Grassly (2011). A statistical model of the international spread of wild poliovirus in Africa used to predict and prevent outbreaks." PLoS Med 8(10): e1001109. [full text]

Jenkins HE, Aylward RB, Gasasira A, Donnelly CA, Mwanza M, Corander J, Garnier S, Chauvin C,Abanida EA, Pate MA, Adu F, Baba M & Grassly NC Implications of a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus in Nigeria. New Engl J Med 2010. 362: 2360-9. [full text]

Grassly NC, Jafari H, Bahl S et al. Mucosal immunity following vaccination with monovalent and trivalent oral poliovirus vaccines in India. J Infect Dis 2009. 200: 794-801[full text]

Fraser C et al. Pandemic potential of a strain of influenza A (H1N1): early findings Science 2009. 324: 1557-1561. [doi link]

Jenkins HE, Aylward RB, Gasasira A, Donnelly CA, Koleosho-Adelekan T, Abanida EA & Grassly NC The effectiveness of immunization against polio in Nigeria. New Engl J Med 2008. 359: 1666-1674. [full text]

Grassly NC, Wenger J, Durrani S, et al. Protective efficacy of a monovalent oral type 1 poliovirus vaccine: a case-control study. Lancet 2007. 369:1356-1362. [doi link]

Grassly N.C., Fraser C., Wenger J., et al. New strategies for the elimination of polio from India. Science 2006. 314:1150 - 1153. [full text]