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Phone:: 02382 027207
Email:: M.Head@soton.ac.uk

Dr Michael Head BSc (Hons), PGDip, PhD

Senior Research Fellow

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Michael is a Senior Research Fellow in Global Health who started at Southampton in October 2015.

He previously spent 11 years at UCL in the Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and the Farr Institute for Health Informatics. He has research interests in research investments analyses, global health, health systems and digital health, with a public health focus on neglected tropical diseases (including scabies and onchocerciasis) and pneumonia. He has communicated extensively with the UK and international media around the COVID-19 outbreak.

Michael graduated from his PhD by published works (Amsterdam Institute in Global Health, University of Amsterdam) in May 2016, and he completed postgraduate study in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Portsmouth.

Qualifications

2016 - PhD, The Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD), University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

2006 - PGDip, Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

2000 - BSc, Biomedical Science, University of Portsmouth

Appointments held

2015- Senior Research Fellow, University of Southampton

2004-2015 – Research associate, University College London

Research

Responsibilities

Publications

Teaching

Contact

Research interests

Michael has numerous interests across global health, and predominantly focusing on infectious diseases. He co-created and leads on the Research Investments in Global Health study (ResIn). This project systematically maps the global landscape of research funding, comparing levels of investment with burden of disease, and giving valuable insight to policymakers, funders and researchers on areas of research strength, knowledge gaps and future priorities. He has been invited to present findings at the World Health Organisation (Geneva), Wellcome Trust (London) and to the European Commission in Brussels. ResIn has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and has published numerous papers and reports, including across (for example) Lancet and BMJ journals.

He is also leading on Neglected Tropical Disease research, covering scabies and onchocerciasis. Research links are predominantly in West Africa, particularly Ghana and emerging links with Togo, but also east Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia) and in South-East Asia (Papua New Guinea) and South America (Brazil).

Michael also has research interests in pneumonia, is part of the 'Every Breath Counts' coalition and awarded the title of 'Pneumonia Fighter 2018' by global advocacy group Just Actions.

He has commented extensively in the UK and international media on COVID-19, the novel coronavirus outbreak. Michael has also published in the peer-reviewed literature, and given many public talks on, vaccination and anti-vaccination activists. Alongside this, he is experienced at science communication, is a STEM Ambassador, and has been involved in numerous outreach and public engagement activities. He also has written extensively about, and advocated for, equity for women in science.

Department(s)

Cancer Sciences

He is Associate Editor at International Health (a Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene journal) and on the steering group for the Wessex Global Health Network.

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Articles

Letters/Editorials

Head, M. G., & Cassell, J. A. (2021). Ivermectin in the management of a scabies outbreak in a long-term care facility. British Journal of Dermatology, 185(4), 868. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.20484
Head, M. (2020). A real-time policy dashboard can aid global transparency in the response to coronavirus disease. International Health, 12(5), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1093/inthealth/ihaa039
Brown, R., & Head, M. (2020). Monitoring investments in coronavirus research and development. The Lancet Microbe, 1(2), [e61]. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30039-2
Head, M., Wind-Mozley, M., & Flegg, P. (2020). Reply: Suspicions of possible vaccine harms must be scrutinised openly and independently to ensure confidence. NPJ Vaccines, 56(5), [56]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-020-0203-8
Head, M. G. (2019). Databases for Research and Development. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 25(10). https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2510.181411
Middleton, J., Walker, S. L., House, T., Head, M. G., & Cassel, J. A. (2019). Ivermectin for the control of scabies outbreaks in the UK. The Lancet, 394(10214), 2068-2069. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32619-4
Head, M., Thaler, D., & Horsley, A. (2019). Precision public health to inhibit the contagion of disease and move toward a future in which microbes spread health. BMC Infectious Diseases, 19(120), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-3715-y
Middleton, J., Cassell, J. A., Jones, C. I., Lanza, S., Head, M. G., & Walker, S. L. (2018). Scabies control: the forgotten role of personal hygiene – Authors' reply. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 18(10), 1068-1069. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30558-9, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30558-9
Tricarico, S., McNeil, H. C., Head, M. G., Cleary, D. W., Clarke, S. C., & MYCarriage (2017). Informing pneumococcal conjugate vaccine policy in middle-income countries: the case of Malaysia. Vaccine, 35(18), 2288-2290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.03.053

Reports

Brown, R., Head, M., & on behalf of The Research Investments in Global health Study (2018). Sizing up pneumonia research: assessing global investments in pneumonia research 2000 – 2015. University of Southampton. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6143060.v1
Digital Science, Charman-Anderson, S., Kane, L., Meadows, A., Greshake Tzovaras, B., Konkiel, S., & Wheeler, L. (2017). Championing the Success of Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths, and Medicine. Digital Science. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5463502

Review

Adeyanju, G. C., Engel, E., Koch, L., Ranzinger, T., Shahid, I. B. M., Head, M. G., Eitze, S., & Betsch, C. (2021). Determinants of influenza vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women in Europe: a systematic review. European Journal of Medical Research, 26(1), [116]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40001-021-00584-w

Michael has supervised numerous medical and MSc students and taught on the MSc Global Health and MSc Computing.

Dr Michael Head
Tel: +44 (0)23 8120 8895
Email: m.head@soton.ac.uk

Room Number: SGH

Telephone:02382 027207
Email:M.Head@soton.ac.uk

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