John Russell Stothard (born 21 March 1970) is a British scientist, professor of parasitology at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and well known for his teaching and research into

schistosomiasis Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever is a neglected tropical helminthiasis, disease caused by parasitism, parasitic Schistosoma, flatworms called schistosomes. It affects both humans and animals. It affects ...

and

neglected tropical diseases Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of tropical infections that are common in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. They are caused by a variety of pathogens, such as viruses, bacteri ...

. He was the recipient of the

Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe * French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

of London in 2004, and the C.A. Wright Memorial Medal of the British Society for Parasitology in 2019. He has previously held positions at London's

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public hea ...

, and at

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 ...

between 1992 and 2010.

Early life and education

Stothard grew up on a

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

farm in coastal

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

in the north of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Upon leaving college, he joined

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

to study for a BSc in Zoology and Microbiology between 1988 and 1991, before graduating and moving to join

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

in 1991 to complete a MSc in Biological Computation. Between 1992 and 1995, he undertook

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

studies focused on the

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

, jointly hosted at

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

under the supervision of David Rollinson.

Research and teaching career

Stothard's research and teaching is focused upon medical

parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their host (biology), hosts, and the relationship between them. As a List of biology disciplines, biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in questio ...

, with particular emphasis on

, most notably the

and control of

. His work seeks to advance understanding of key parasites and

intermediate host In biology and medicine, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism; whether a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist ''guest'' (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include ...

s/ vectors thereof, to better tailor future interventions in control and elimination of parasitic disease in not only humans, but to other animals including livestock, companion animals and wildlife. He has over 237 publications on

Scopus Scopus is a scientific abstract and citation database, launched by the academic publisher Elsevier as a competitor to older Web of Science in 2004. The ensuing competition between the two databases has been characterized as "intense" and is c ...

(>6300 citations, h-index 41, average citation per item 26.4
ORCID: 0000-0002-9370-3420
ref name=":3">), with the top five-most cited publications accumulating 567 citations to date. Stothard's research relevance has prompted invites to present, chair and contribute to several

World Health Organisation 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 ...

(WHO) expert committees including 'Guideline Review at Head Office/African Regional Office (Schistosomiasis)'; 'Roadmap for control of schistosomiasis: Schistosomiasis: progress report 2001–2011, strategic plan 2012–2020'; and 'Eliminating soil-transmitted helminthiases as a public health problem in children Progress report 2001−2010 and strategic plan 2011–2020'. Russ in Malawi in 2018 collecting snails

Russ in Malawi in 2018 collecting snails

Stothard has been director of COUNTDOWN, a large DFID-UK funded interdisciplinary implementation research consortium (2014–2019), and lead a

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

funded longitudinal cohort study of Schistosomiasis in Mothers and Infants''' (SIMI) project (2008–2013), which featured on BBC2. His work as a founding member of the

Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Unlimit Health (previously known as SCI Foundation and as the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative) is an international organisation working to end parasitic disease. The organisation partners with affected countries, sharing evidence and experti ...

(2002–2004), and involvement in study of the hybrid biology of

first beginning in

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

a decade ago with EU_CONTRAST (2006–2010), are of relevance in use of

point-of-care Clinical point of care (POC) is the point in time when clinicians deliver healthcare products and services to patients at the time of care. Clinical documentation Clinical documentation is a record of the critical thinking and judgment of a health ...

diagnostics Diagnosis (: diagnoses) is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in a lot of different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " cause and effect". ...

, molecular approaches and inclusion of one-health understanding of

control.

Awards and memberships

Stothard's multidisciplinary studies on

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

, provided groundwork for subsequent international efforts towards elimination strategies in

urogenital The genitourinary system, or urogenital system, are the sex organs of the reproductive system and the organ (biology), organs of the urinary system. These are grouped together because of their proximity to each other, Development of the urinary a ...

. This work gained him the

of London in 2004. In April 2019, Stothard was again honoured with the 2019 C.A. Wright Memorial Medal of the

British Society for Parasitology The British Society for Parasitology is a UK-based organisation of British parasitologists. It was founded in April 1962 from the Parasitological Section of the Institute of Biology. The initial goals of the society were to hold two meetings yearly ...

for outstanding contribution to

over more than twenty years. Stothard is the co-editor of two peer-reviewed scientific journals, ''

Advances in Parasitology ''Advances in Parasitology'' is a book series of reviews addressing topics in parasitology, for both human and veterinary medicine. First published as an annual volume in 1963, the book is now released quarterly. It is currently published by Elsevi ...

'' and ''

Parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their host (biology), hosts, and the relationship between them. As a List of biology disciplines, biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in questio ...

'' and a regular reviewer for a range of other peer-reviewed scientific journals. Between 2004 and 2010 he was elected as honorary scientific secretary and executive board member at the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Following completion of this appointment, he was elected to Honorary General Secretary of the

between 2011 and 2016. He remains an ordinary member of both societies.

References

External links

Professor Russ Stothard's staff website at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stothard, John Russell 1970 births Living people Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows of the Linnean Society of London British parasitologists Academics of the University of Liverpool Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the University of York Alumni of Imperial College London Scientists from Northumberland