Melita Alison Gordon is a

gastroenterologist Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- "belly", -énteron "intestine", and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract, sometime ...

who works on invasive gut pathogens and tropical

gastrointestinal disease Gastrointestinal diseases (abbrev. GI diseases or GI illnesses) refer to diseases involving the Human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract, namely the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and rectum; and the accessory or ...

. She leads the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Salmonella and Enterics Group. Gordon was awarded the

British Society of Gastroenterology The British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) is a British professional organisation of gastroenterologists, surgeons, pathologists, radiologists, scientists, nurses, dietitians and others amongst its members, which number over 4,000. It was founde ...

Sir Francis Avery Jones Research Medal in 2011.

Education and early career

Gordon completed her undergraduate studies at the

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 ...

. She completed her clinical qualifications at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and eventually specialised in

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. She has since worked in

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. In 1993 she was awarded the

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is a post-graduate teaching and research institution based in Liverpool, England, established in 1898. It was the first institution in the world dedicated to the study of tropical medicine. LSTM ...

Blacklock medal. In 1997 she was appointed 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 ...

Clinical Fellow and Lecturer. She moved to

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

in 1997, where she lived until 2005 and was part of the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust.

Research

In 2008 Gordon was made an NHS

Higher Education Funding Council for England The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engl ...

Clinical Fellow at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. Her early work was the first to show how ''

Salmonella ''Salmonella'' is a genus of bacillus (shape), rod-shaped, (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two known species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' ...

'' becomes a lethal disease for

HIV-positive people HIV-positive people, seropositive people or people who live with HIV are people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus which if untreated may progress to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). According to estimat ...

. She was promoted to Reader in 2012 and Professor in 2015. In 2015 she returned to

where she leads the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Salmonella and Enterics Group. Gordon's research focuses on the development of vaccinations to protect against invasive bloodstream diseases caused by two groups of ''Salmonellae'';

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...

and Invasive Non-Typhoidal Salmonellosis (iNTS). Gordon is committed to identifying novel vaccinations that can protect children in Africa from bacterial disease. iNTS is a rare bacterial disease that is caused by extraintestinal infection of certain

serotypes A serotype or serovar is a distinct variation within a species of bacteria or virus or among immune cells of different individuals. These microorganisms, viruses, or cells are classified together based on their shared reactivity between their su ...

of ''

''. iNTS kills around 80,000 people each year. It is more likely to occur in patients with

HIV infection The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a preventable disease. It can ...

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

and the majority of people who suffer from iNTS are in

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 ...

. In 2011 Gordon was awarded the

Sir Francis Avery Jones Research Medal and in 2012 the Shire Awards for Gastrointestinal Excellence prize for Excellence in Gastroenterology. She became Director of the

World Gastroenterology Organisation The World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) is an international federation of over 100 national GI societies and 4 regional associations of gastroenterology representing over 50,000 individual members. WGO is focused on "the improvement of stan ...

Blantyre Training Center in 2016. In 2018 Gordon led Africa's launch of the new

typhoid conjugate vaccine The Vi capsular polysaccharide vaccine (or ViCPS) is a typhoid vaccine recommended by the World Health Organization for the prevention of typhoid (another is Ty21a). The vaccine was first licensed in the US in 1994 and is made from the purified Vi ...

, and successfully vaccinated 24,000 children in

in the first six months. The first child, Golden Kondowe, received the first vaccination in Ndirande,

Blantyre Blantyre is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with a population of 800,264 . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe. It is ...

. The Typhoid Vaccine Acceleration Consortium (TyVAC) study was funded by the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

and was the result of twenty years of research of ''

'' in

. The vaccine, which contains the Vi antigen (a part of the Salmonella Typhi bacterium that helps it cause disease), is expected to protect against typhoid and other infections. She works with local scientists, health workers and the Malawi Ministry of Health. The vaccine was shown to protect 81% of children from becoming infected with

. Gordon and the

Centre for Global Vaccine Research were awarded a multi-million pound research grant to establish the

Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...

Vacci-iNTS consortium. The consortium looks to develop new vaccines and research the financial and social impact of iNTS on communities in Africa impacted by the disease. In 2019 Gordon was made a

National Institute for Health 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 "improv ...

Global Research Professor. Her research has been supported by the

, Medical Research Council,

and

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom Government, from July 2016 to Februar ...

Selected publications

Her publications include: * * *

Personal life

Gordon is married to Stephen Gordon, former Director of the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Programme in Malawi. In the

2024 King's Birthday Honours The 2024 King's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of King Charles III to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part o ...

, she was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG) "for services to global health".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Melita Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Gastroenterologists British gastroenterologists NIHR Research Professors Alumni of the University of Oxford Academics of the University of Liverpool Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George