Dr Tom Fletcher

Reader in Emerging and High Consequence Infectious Diseases and Director of Global Health Trials Unit.

After completing undergraduate training at University of Leeds, Tom undertook his general duties in the Defence Medicine Services and then higher specialist training in Liverpool in Infectious Disease and General Internal Medicine. He was seconded to the department of Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases at HQ WHO for a year before the 2013-15 EVD outbreak in West Africa, during which he and colleagues from the WHO clinical team led a step change in Ebola case management. For his Ph.D. he undertook a Wellcome Trust fellowship investigating the interaction of immune response, viral load and clinical course in a cohort of patients with Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in Turkey. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to HQ WHO clinical team and was deployed to South Korea before returning to support the UK NHS response.

Tom is a senior investigator within the AGILE trial platform, leading AGILE International and the laboratory pillar. He is the candidate chief investigator on 2 early phase trials of novel therapeutics in COVID-19 in the UK and South Africa.

His research at LSTM is mainly focussed on High-Consequence Infectious Diseases, where he is the Co-Director of the ACTIVE platform - ACcelerating Therapeutics and dIagnostics in Viral HaEmorrhagic fever. He has active research programmes in Turkey, Sudan and West Africa.

Teaching

Current PhD/MD students

Dr Donald Grant (PhD) Lassa fever near-patient PCR and haemostasis diagnostics

Dr Susie Gould (MD) Investigation of potential for aerosol transmission and environmental contamination relating to high consequence infectious diseases.

Caitlin Thompson (PhD) The development and evaluation of diagnostics for the emergence of disease X

I’ah Donovan-Bailey (PhD) Determining molecular signatures in acute emerging infections and association with outcome (UoL Primary Prof Hiscox)

Romeo Toriro (PhD) Gastrointestinal disease epidemiology, burden and control within the context of a contemporary military operational environment

Dr William Nevin (PhD) Join Well, Train Well, Leave Well: Infectious Diseases Screening in At-Risk UK Military Populations

Dr Lynsey Goodwin (PhD) Arboviral Infections and arboviral immunology (UoL Primary Dr Turtle).

Teaching at LSTM:

Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (DTM&H) LSTM:
Diploma in Tropical Nursing LSTM:
Masters in Tropical and Infectious Diseases
MoD: Military Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases

Appointments

Consultant in Tropical and Infectious Diseases, Tropical and Infectious Disease Unit, Royal Liverpool University Hospital
Consultant Defence Medical Services UK
Honorary Consultant, UK Health Security Agency

Current positions

Clinical Theme Lead – NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections
Chair Tropical Medicine Study Group (MoD)
Chair External Advisory Panel for the India COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines
WHO CCHF R&D Taskforce