The MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis is a Medical Research Council funded research centre at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

and a

WHO collaborating centre World Health Organization collaborating centres are institutions that work with the World Health Organization (WHO) in disciplines such as occupational health, food safety, and communicable disease prevention. There are over 700 such centres acros ...

. It is part of the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at School of Public Health within the

Imperial College Faculty of Medicine The Faculty of Medicine is the academic centre for medical and clinical research and teaching at Imperial College London. It contains the Imperial College School of Medicine, which is the college's undergraduate medical school. History Medic ...

. Neil Ferguson is the director of the centre, along with four associate directors:

Christl Donnelly Christl Ann Donnelly is a professor of statistical epidemiology at Imperial College London, the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Peter's College, Oxford. She serves as associate director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease A ...

Azra Ghani Azra Catherine Hilary Ghani is a British epidemiologist who is a professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London. Her research considers the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases, including malaria, bovine spongi ...

, Nicholas Grassly, and Timothy Hallett. The centre also collaborates UK Health Protection Agency, and the US

Centre for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

. The centre's main research areas are disease outbreak analysis and modelling,

vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity The adaptive immune system, also known as the acquired immune system, is a subsystem of the immune system that is composed of specialized, systemic cells and pro ...

global health Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problem ...

analytics,

antimicrobial resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from the effects of antimicrobials. All classes of microbes can evolve resistance. Fungi evolve antifungal resistance. Viruses evolve antiviral resistance. ...

, and developing methods and tools for studying these areas. The centre was previously called the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling.

COVID-19 pandemic response

The centre—together with the Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics—formed the COVID-19 Response Team in respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 16 March 2020 the team produced a research forecast of various scenarios for spread of the disease in the United Kingdom and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Without any mitigation their forecast showed local health care capabilities vastly overwhelmed by the epidemic wave. Periodic cycles of quarantine followed by softer social distancing were recommended, with quarantines in effect two thirds of the time. On 30 March, a study on 11 European countries was published. It provided estimates of the situation as of 28 March (observed and modelised with

CovidSim CovidSim is an epidemiological model for COVID-19 developed by Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team, led by Neil Ferguson. The Imperial College study addresses the question: If complete suppression is not feasible, what is the best strategy ...

), and projections for 31 March given current expectations, no action, and the difference. It also provided a list of government policies and their respective absolute dates. As of March 2021, the COVID-19 Response Team has produced 43 reports.

References

Antimicrobial resistance organizations Biological research institutes in the United Kingdom Medical and health organisations based in London Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) Research institutes in London Research institutes of Imperial College London World Health Organization collaborating centres {{Organization-stub

COVID-19 pandemic response

See also

References