Professor Matthew Hickman
B.Sc.(Lanc.), M.Sc.(Aberd.), Ph.D.(Lond.)
Current positions
Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I am the co-director with Isabel Oliver (Public Health England) and Richard Amlot (Public Health England) of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluations, and a member and co-investigator of NIHR School of Public Health Research and DeCIPHER (UKCRC Public Health Centre of Excellence for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement).
My research programme focuses on infectious disease control and the epidemiology and public health consequences of drug use – with active research grants on prevention of Hepatitis C Virus, drug related mortality, and alcohol related harms.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Bath Mental Health Research Group
Principal Investigator
Role
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/09/2024 to 31/08/2029
ALSPAC Renewal 2024 to 2029
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/08/2024 to 31/07/2029
Evaluating supervised opioid antagonist treatment consumption
Principal Investigator
Description
Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) is used to treat people who are dependent on opioids – usually heroin. Opioids are also a type of drug commonly used in medicine to relieve…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/01/2024 to 30/06/2025
Opioid overdose deaths: Understanding the lethal interactions between benzodiazepines and opioids to develop new harm reduction strategies
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/07/2022 to 30/06/2025
RC Co-production of an educational package for the universal HPV vaccination programme tailored for schools with low uptake: A participatory study - EDUCATE
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/04/2021 to 30/06/2021
Thesis supervisions
Investigating glassware as a choice architecture intervention to reduce alcohol consumption
Supervisors
Understanding the Epidemiology of Hepatitis C Virus in Ethiopia
Supervisors
Investigating the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in different settings around the world
Supervisors
Using mathematical modelling to investigate the impact of interventions for preventing transmission of HIV and other blood-borne viruses among people who inject drugs
Supervisors
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in young adults
Supervisors
Investigating the Relationship between Anxiety and Alcohol Use
Supervisors
Suicide prevention in clinical populations with substance use problems
Supervisors
Surveillance of lower respiratory tract infections within UK care homes, in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Supervisors
“Holding on by the Seat of Their Pants” A Mixed Methods Exploration of Retention, Completion and Recovery in Opioid Substitution Treatment
Supervisors
Quantifying the neurophysiological effects of 5-HT2A receptor activation on cortico-limbic and cortico-striatal network dynamics in rats
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
25/06/2026Cost-effectiveness of emergency department opt-out testing for HIV in England
Lancet HIV
Delivering effective hepatitis C virus treatment in an embedded primary care setting within a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan
Journal of Viral Hepatitis
Drug-related death rates associated with prescribed and illicit benzodiazepine exposure among people receiving opioid-agonist treatment in Scotland, 2015 to 2020
The International journal on drug policy
Dynamic shifts in crystal methamphetamine and heroin price and purity in metropolitan Melbourne and rural Victoria, Australia, 2009-2020
International Journal of Drug Policy
Factors associated with adult incarceration among people with opioid use disorder in New South Wales, Australia
Drug and Alcohol Review
Related people
Professor Peter Vickerman
Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Aaron Lim
Senior Lecturer in Infectious Disease Mathematical Modelling
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Jack Stone
Associate Professor in Infectious Disease Mathematical Modelling
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Gabriele Vojt
Senior Research Associate
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Claire Garnett
Senior Research Fellow
School of Psychological Science