Dr Shevin Jacob

Reader in Sepsis Research

Dr Shevin Jacob is a US-trained infectious diseases consultant who started as an LSTM faculty member in 2017 with a primary mandate to develop and lead sepsis research initiatives in low- and middle-income countries. He obtained a Doctorate of Medicine (MD) degree at Oregon Health & Sciences University and a Masters in Public Health (MPH) degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. He underwent his post-graduate training at the University of Virginia (internal medicine) and University of Washington (infectious diseases). After completion of his infectious diseases specialty training in 2012, he remained at University of Washington as faculty within the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine; he maintains an affiliate faculty appointment at University of Washington.

Research

For over a decade, Shevin has been conducting research on severe infections among adults from resource-constrained settings, with a primary focus on adult sepsis in Uganda where he currently lives.

As part of his current research portfolio, Shevin is co-Director for the African Research Collaboration on Sepsis (ARCS), a £2m NIHR-funded Global Health Research Group focused on building research capacity to improve the quality of sepsis management in Africa.

He is also a co-Investigator (co-I) and site Principal Investigator (PI) for the £3m MRC-funded Drivers of Resistance in Uganda and Malawi (DRUM) Consortium, a multi-disciplinary research collaboration focused on understanding transmission dynamics of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the context of human health, animal health, and the environment.

Other current grant funding includes:

MRC Joint Global Health Trials Scheme, Development Award: Preparation for Randomised Evaluation of a VItamin C bundle for Sepsis Treatment in Africa (REVISTA-Prep) [PI]
Grand Challenges Africa Innovation Seed Grant—AMR (DRUM+) [co-PI]
MRC Joint Global Health Trials Scheme, Development Award: Curtailing Hospital Readmission In people with Severe Mental illness in Africa (CHaRISMA) (co-I)

Recognised for his work in sepsis and Ebola, he received the 2018 Leadership in Public Health Practice Award by the Harvard Alumni Association.

Other relevant expertise, professional memberships affiliations

Since 2009, Shevin has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization as part of various working groups to improve the clinical management of sepsis and other severe illnesses (including viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF)) in resource-constrained settings. In that capacity, he has worked on the frontlines of VHF outbreaks, including in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone during the 2013-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak and in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the ongoing Ebola outbreak.

Shevin is also co-Founder of Walimu, a Uganda-based non-government organisation that supports the Uganda Ministry of Health in the implementation of training and post-training quality improvement efforts for the management of severe illness in Ugandan health facilities. 

In addition, since early 2018, LSTM has seconded Shevin for a portion of his time to Makerere University’s Infectious Diseases Institute to serve as a Team Lead for its Global Health Security Department, for which he advises on a portfolio including activities in the areas of outbreak response, infection prevention and control, AMR, One Health, and biosafety/biosecurity. 

Other notable roles in global health efforts include: 

Secretary General for the African Sepsis Alliance, a collaboration of African countries and international professional bodies dedicated to improving outcomes from sepsis Board Member for the IMAI Alliance, a US-based non-government organisation focused on developing technical materials and training as part of the WHO’s Integrated Management of Adolescent and Adult Illness (IMAI) programs 

Board member for the IMAI Alliance, a US-based non-government organisation focused on developing technical materials and trainings as part of the WHO’s Integrated Management of Adolescent and Adult Illness (IMAI) programmes

Senior Medical Advisor to Shift Labs, a Seattle-based start-up company focused on developing low-cost medical devices for low-resource settings

Board of Trustees member for YouBelong, a UK-based charitable incorporated organisation focused on strengthening community-based mental health services in Uganda.

Recent publications: 

    Selected publications

    • Fischer WA 2nd, Crozier I, Bausch DG, Muyembe JJ, Mulangu S, Diaz JV, Kojan R, Wohl DA, Jacob ST. Shifting the Paradigm - Applying Universal Standards of Care to Ebola Virus Disease. N Engl J Med. April 2019;380(15):1389-1391.

      Clark DV, Banura P, Bandeen-Roche K, Liles WC, Kain KC, Scheld WM, Moss WJ, Jacob ST. Biomarkers of endothelial activation/dysfunction distinguish sub-groups of Ugandan patients with sepsis and differing mortality risks. JCI Insight. April 2019;5:doi:10.1172/jci.insight.127623.

      Rylance J, Nsutebu E, Mergani KO, Grobusch MP, Jacob ST. The African Sepsis Alliance: making a difference in the fight against sepsis in Africa. Infection. August 2018;46(5):733-734.

      Cummings MJ, Goldberg E, Mwaka S, Kabajaasi O,…Jacob ST, et al. “A complex intervention to improve implementation of World Health Organization guidelines for diagnosis of severe illness in low-income settings: a quasi-randomized trial from Uganda.” Implementation of Science. November 2017;12:126.

      Magaret A, Angus DC, Adhikari NK, Banura P,…Jacob ST. “Design of a multi-arm randomized clinical trial with no control arm.” Contemp Clin Trials. January 2016;46:12-7.

      Bah EI, Lamah MC, Fletcher T, Jacob ST, et al. “Clinical Presentation of Patients with Ebola Virus Disease in Conakry, Guinea.” N Eng J Med. January 2015; 372(1):40-7.

      Jacob ST, Pavlinac PB, Nakiyingi L, Banura P, et al. “Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteremia in a cohort of HIV-infected patients hospitalized with severe sepsis in Uganda: high frequency, low clinical suspicion and derivation of a clinical prediction score.” PLoS One. August 2013;8(8): e70305.

      Jacob ST, Lim M, Banura P, Bhagwanjee S, et al. “Integrating sepsis management recommendations into clinical care guidelines for district hospitals in resource-limited settings: augmenting novel guidelines with future research.” BMC Medicine. April 2013;11:107.

      Jacob ST, Banura P, Baeten JM, Moore CC, et al. “The impact of early monitored management on survival in hospitalized adult Ugandan patients with severe sepsis: a prospective intervention study.” Critical Care Medicine. June 2012;40(7):2050-58.

      Jacob ST, Moore CC, Banura P, Pinkerton R, et al. “Severe Sepsis in Two Ugandan Hospitals: a Prospective Observational Study of Management and Outcomes in a Predominantly HIV-1 Infected Population.” PLoS One. November 2009;4(11):1-12.