Dr Peter J White

Contact me. Download a list of my publications.

I am Head of the Health Protection Agency's Modelling & Economics Unit and have a part-time position in the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis & Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, at Imperial College London. The HPA Modelling & Economics Unit has a broad range of interests in infectious diseases. My personal research interests include health systems research, statistical analysis and mathematical modelling of the epidemiology of, and the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions against, sexually transmitted infections (including HIV), TB, and influenza. I participate in the UK government’s scientific pandemic influenza advisory committee (SPI) and its modelling subcommittee (SPI-M), the WHO Informal Network for Mathematical Modelling of H1N1 and ECDC H1N1 Modelling Working Group. I was also a member of the UK government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) for pandemic H1N1, which has now been stood down. 

In addition to lecturing to undergraduate and postgraduate students at Imperial, including on the MSc in Modern Epidemiology and Masters in Public Health, I give MPhil lectures at Cambridge University, and lecture on the Vaccinology course at Institut Pasteur.

Collaborative studies of STIs, HIV, TB and influenza involve University of Washington, Seattle, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Perú, University College London,  Queen Mary, University of London, Brighton & Sussex Medical School, LSHTM, the Universities of Bern, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, and Warwick, and others.

The BBC (in its Panorama and news webpages) and the Times newspaper have reported modelling work from the Patsi study of the epidemiological impact of difficulties that previously existed in obtaining STI healthcare in the UK. We showed how failing to provide adequate capacity to treat curable infectious disease (in this case, gonorrhoea) creates a vicious circle by allowing further spreading of infection and so creating more demand for treatment. In contrast, providing adequate capacity creates a virtuous circle where most potential spreading is prevented, keeping infection rates and demand for treatment low. Investing in increased capacity, to break the vicious circle, greatly reduces numbers of future infections and so offers cost savings as well as improving health. This work has also been presented at the House of Commons (UK Parliament). Following this work, increased resources were made available for sexual health, and access to care improved. A summary for public-health officials and policy-makers is available here.

Recent workshops attended include:

*International Forum on Pandemic Influenza 2010, Qingdao, China.
*Consultation on Metrics, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Research (MMER) for President Barack Obama’s new Global Health Initiative.
*DIMACS Workshop on Mathematical Models for Behavioral Epidemiology.
*ECDC Influenza A(H1N1)v modelling working group.
*WHO Informal Network for Mathematical Modelling of H1N1.
*BMGF Vaccine Modeling Initiative meeting, Pittsburgh.
*NCCID HIV/STBBI Knowledge Synthesis and Exchange Forum, Toronto.
*Meeting the Demand for Male Circumcision: An assessment of what is needed, Kampala.
*Male Circumcision for HIV risk reduction: Decision Makers' Programme Planning Tool and Consensus Statement meeting, London.
*Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors meeting, Seattle.
*Department of Health (UK): Health Economics of Interventions in Sexual Health.
*National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (UK): Economic Evaluation in Public Health.
*LEAD International: HIV/STD & Eco-Health Systems, Dakar, Senegal.

I studied biochemistry at Cambridge, then went to Oxford for my MSc, before studying for my PhD in Stirling, with Prof Peter Hudson (now at Penn State) and Dr Rachel Norman. I joined the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College in 2002. Prior to becoming a lecturer I was a postdoc, funded by the Wellcome Trust and then UNAIDS. I took up my position at the Health Protection Agency in April 2009.

I am a volunteer leader of youth expeditions with Brathay Exploration Group, a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and a NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) Crucible awardee 2006.

Imperial College's professional short course, Introduction to Mathematical Models of the Epidemiology & Control of Infectious Diseases, is aimed at public health professionals, policy-makers and researchers who want to learn about the basic principles and practical applications of mathematical modelling and modern quantitative methods, and has been running for two decades.