Graham Cooke is a clinician scientist and

NIHR The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government's major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "improv ...

Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Wright-Fleming Institute of

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. He is best known for his work on viral hepatitis, particularly

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include ...

Early life and education

Educated at

Watford Grammar School for Boys Watford Grammar School for Boys (commonly abbreviated as WBGS) is an 11–18 boys partially selective academy in Watford in Hertfordshire, England. The school and its sister school, Watford Grammar School for Girls, descend from a Free School ...

, he studied natural sciences and medicine at

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Later he undertook his doctoral studies with Adrian V. S. Hill at the Wellcome Center for Human Genetics, studying

human genetic variation Human genetic variation is the genetic differences in and among populations. There may be multiple variants of any given gene in the human population (alleles), a situation called polymorphism. No two humans are genetically identical. Even ...

and its role in susceptibility to

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

Research and career

After specialist training in London, Cooke was based at the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies,

Mtubatuba Mtubatuba is a town north of Richards Bay close to the entrance of Ncivi and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (previously Greater St Lucia Wetland Park) but now the iSimangaliso Wetland Park is known to be under Mtuba town in KwaZulu-Natal, South A ...

(now AHRI) before moving to Imperial College. His work has focussed on

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis. In 2016 he led publication of global estimates of viral hepatitis disease burden and has had a prominent role in efforts to raise the profile of viral hepatitis globally, leading the commission on viral hepatitis elimination in 2019. He has run randomised trials in the UK and Vietnam contributing insights into host-virus interactions and treatment outcomes.

COVID-19

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Cooke was an investigator on the REACT (Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission) programme, the largest study of consented individuals during the pandemic. The programme made important contributions to government policy and informed decisions on relaxation of national restrictions and vaccine delivery. With

Chris Toumazou Christofer "Chris" Toumazou, CEng (, born 5 July 1961) is a British Cypriot electronic engineer. He is perhaps best known for inventing a fast and portable means of genome sequencing, following his 13-year-old son's diagnosis with end stage k ...

, he led the development of the COVIDnudge diagnostic, implemented in the NHS in 2020.

Other roles

He has advocated for access to affordable medicines. He became a member of the

WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

committee for Selection and Use of Essential Medicines in 2015 and chairman in 2019. In 2021, he was appointed non-executive director and Deputy Chair of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Board (MHRA).

Honours

He is a Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

(2012),

National Institute for Health and Care Research The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government's major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "impr ...

(NIHR) Research Professor (2017), Fellow of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academy, National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its ...

(2023).

References

External links

Tackling the global burden of hepatitis
Interview with Graham Cooke. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Graham British infectious disease physicians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academics of Imperial College London NIHR Research Professors Hepatitis researchers Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)