Talk Title: TBC

Background: I am a clinician scientist with research interests in clinical discovery science, focused on infectious diseases, vaccines and global health.

I completed my undergraduate medical training at the University of Bristol in 2000. Following postgraduate clinical training in General Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and HIV in Oxford and London, I moved to Sheffield for higher specialist training in Infectious Diseases & Microbiology in 2004. After moving to The MRC Unit The Gambia in 2007, I was awarded a British Infection Society Research Fellowship (2007-8), followed by a MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship and PhD (2008 – 11) under the supervision of Professor Sarah Rowland-Jones and Professor Robin Weiss, to study the pathogenesis of HIV-2 infection and the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 and HIV-2 in West Africa.

I joined the University of Sheffield in 2013 as an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Infectious Diseases & Microbiology. I was awarded a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship (2016 -2021), based between Imperial College London and the MRC Unit The Gambia, to study the immunogenicity of intranasal Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine in children and bidirectional interactions with nasopharyngeal microbiota. I returned to the University of Sheffield as a Senior Clinical Lecturer in 2020 and led a programme of SARS-CoV-2 research through the COVID-19 pandemic, including roles as lead PI in Sheffield for the COG-UK consortium and the PITCH study. I was awarded an MBE in 2021 for services to COVID-19 research.

I am part of the Clinical Infection Research Group (CIRG) in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease (IICD), along with Prof. Sarah Rowland-Jones, Dr. Tom Darton , Dr. Paul Collini and Dr. Ruth Payne.  I have been an Honorary Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases at the South Yorkshire Regional Department of Infection and Tropical Medicine in Sheffield since 2016. I continue to be a Visiting Scientist and Principal Investigator in the Vaccines and Immunity Theme at the MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM and am also an Honorary Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Institutional Profile: Dr Thushan de Silva | Medical School | The University of Sheffield

Dr Thushan de Silva