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Professor Kevin Mortimer

Professor of Respiratory Medicine

Kevin went to medical school in Cambridge and then trained in General Internal Medicine and Respiratory Medicine in Nottingham. He did a PhD at the University of Nottingham where he subsequently took up a Clinical Lecturer post, developing his interest in clinical trials and airways diseases. He moved to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 2011 as Senior Clinical Lecturer. He is an Honorary Consultant in Respiratory Medicine at Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Co-Principal Investigator in the Cooking and Pneumonia Study CAPS.

Teaching and Learning

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2010-date)

Member of teaching faculty giving lectures on asthma in the tropics and the adverse health effects of biomass smoke exposure.

Give lecture on biomass and global respiratory disease, set and mark essay and exam questions

PATS MECOR (2010-date)

Member of the teaching faculty for this American Thoracic Society and Pan African Thoracic Society course.

Teaching Medical Students and Doctors

I regularly teach clinical medical students and doctors, mainly in the form of small group bedside tutorials but also some formal lectures. I have also taught medical students at St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi and Colombo University, Sri Lanka.

Image: African women cooking a meal.

Other Appointments and Affiliations

Professional roles

  • Honorary lecturer at the Malawi College of Medicine
  • Honorary Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine, Aintree University Hospital, Liverpool
  • MRC funded New Investigator Research Grant holder
  • Deputy Director of the Collaboration for Applied Health Research and Delivery
  • Co-lead of the LSTM - Lancaster University Doctoral Training Partnership in Global Health
  • Reader in Respiratory Medicine, LSTM

Professional membership

  • British Medical Association
  • Royal College of Physicians
  • British Thoracic Society
  • American Thoracic Society
  • International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
  • Europan Respiratory Society
  • Pan African Thoracic Society
  • Ethiopian Thoracic Society
  • Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Academic Supervision

PhD Students

Lead supervisor for Hannah Jary with Stephen Gordon and Ingrid Peterson (Wellcome Trust funded). The Acute Infection of the Respiratory Tract Study (AIR).

Lead supervisor for Hastings Banda (REACH Trust) with Bertie Squire and Rachael Thomson (Norwegian Heart and Lung Patient Association funded). Engaging informal providers and primary care in management of chronic cough (Triage Plus Phase 2).

Co-supervisor for Rana Ahmed with Bertie Squire and Rachael Thomson (Norwegian Heart and Lung Patient Association funded). The Use of informal health care providers in the delivery of community based respiratory health care services in rural areas of Sudan.

Co-supervisor for Jamilah Meghji with Bertie Squire and Liz Corbett (Wellcome Trust funded).

Research Grants 

Medical Research Foundation 2015. Mortimer, K (PI) and Grigg, J. £50,000. Child lung health and exposure to household air pollution in Malawi.

Medical Reseach Council Doctoral Training Partnership 2015. Biagini G., Mortimer, K (co-lead) and Diggle P. £1,300,000 Translational and Quantative Skills Training Programme in Global Health.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 2015. Mortimer K co-investigator (PI Bruce N.). $343,147. Impact of an improved stove on reductions in PM2.5 exposure and nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in 6 month old Malawian children.

Aldama Foundation 2015. Mortimer K. (PI). £20,000 annually. Funding towards LSTM Doctoral Training Programme

Wellcome Trust International Engagement Grant 2014. Mortimer K (PI). £3,000. The Cooking and Pneumonia Study: A focus on food

NIH (R56) 2014. Blames J. and Mortimer K (co PI). $100,000. Pump priming funding for Malawi Adult Lung Health Study

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Jean Clayton Fund 2014. Mortimer K (on behalf of CAHRD cross cutting theme). £5,000. Funding for CAHRD meeting.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Equipment Fund 2014. Mortimer K (on behalf of CAHRD cross cutting theme).£5,000. Funding for CAHRD meeting.

Aldama Foundation 2014. Mortimer K. £10,000. Funding for PATS MECOR.

MRC Partnership Grant 2014. Mortimer K co-investigator (PI Stephen Gordon). £580,000. BREATHE.

MRC New Investigator Research Grant 2013. Mortimer K. £480,000. Lung Health and exposure to household air pollution in Malawi.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Department Of Clinical Sciences Fund 2013. Mortimer K, Faragher B. £2,000. Pump priming funding for LSTM tropical Clinical Trials Unit.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Research Development Fund 2013. Mortimer K, Thomson R, Squire B. £5,807Management of asthma treatment in the private sector in Khartoum, Sudan.

Aldama Foundation 2013. Mortimer K. £10,000. Funding for PATS MECOR.

MRC, Wellcome Trust and DfID 2012. Gordon S and Mortimer K (co-PI). £2,697,485. An advanced cookstove intervention to prevent pneumonia in children under 5 years old in Malawi: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD 2012. Awarded to Hannah Jary. Mortimer K primary supervisor. £350,000 approx. The Acute Infection of the Respiratory Tract Study (AIR).

NIHR HTA 2012. Mortimer K co-investigator (PI Tim Harrison). £1,879,410. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of temporarily quadrupling the dose of inhaled steroid to prevent asthma exacerbations; a pragmatic, randomized, normal care-controlled, clinical trial.

GlaxoSmithKline 2011. Mortimer K, Gordon S and Nyirenda M. £140,000. Burden of Lung Disease study in Malawi.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Research Development Fund 2011. Mortimer K. £6,000 (with additional £24,000 funding from Clioma Ltd). Health Effects of an Improved Cookstove Intervention in Malawi: A Randomised Controlled Trial.

S CDC 2011. Mortimer K, Fullerton D. $1,500. Travel award to attend Summer Cookstove Initiative Workshop in Guatemala.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine New Lecturer Grant 2011. Mortimer K. £2,500.

National Institute for Health Research Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme 2009. Mortimer K co-investigator (Knox A PI). £92,000. Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-gamma: a novel therapeutic target for asthma?

University of Nottingham Biomedical Research Committee Strategic Funding Initiative 2007. Mortimer K, Harrison T.£20,000. Macrolides in Refractory Asthma.

University of Nottingham Institute of Clinical Research Pump Priming Grant 2007. Mortimer K. £3,000. Funding for MSc in Clinical Trials.

GR076306MA Wellcome Trust Project Grant 2005. Mortimer K co-investigator (Britton J PI). £250,000. Randomized controlled clinical trials of the effect of therapeutic hookworm infection in allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma.

Scadding Morriston Davies Fellowship 2004. Mortimer K. £3,000. Funding for three weeks training in inhaled steroid pharmacology at the University of Florida, USA.

Recent publications: 

    Selected publications

    • Original articles

      Anderson JR, Mortimer K, Pang L, Smith KM, Bailey H, Knox AJ, Harrison TW. A double blind randomised placebo-controlled trial of the effects of the PPAR-gamma agonist pioglitazone on the control of mild asthma. Plos One 2016. Accepted.

      Ardrey J, Desmond N, Tolhurst R, Mortimer, K. The Cooking And Pneumonia Study (CAPS) in Malawi: A nested participatory research pilot of Photovoice methodology. Plos One 2016, In press

      Weston W, Smedley J, Mortimer K. The Cooking And Pneumonia Study: succesful implementation of electronic data capture in rural Malawi with source document verification from the UK. Plos One 2016, In Press

      Kalu N, Havens D, Lufesi N, Mortimer, K. Implementation of World Health Organization Integrated Management of Childhood Ilnesses (IMCI) Guidelines for the Assessment of Pneumonia in the Under 5s in Rural Malawi. Plos One 2016; 11(5): e0155830. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155830

      Chisunkha B, Banda H, Thomson R, Squire SB, Mortimer K. Implementation of digital technology solutions for a lung health trial in rural Malawi. Eur Respir J 2016 April 13. pii: ERJ-00045-2016.doi:10.1183/13993003.00045-2016. [Epub ahead of print].

      Rylance J, Fullerton DG, Scriven J, Aljurayyan AN, Mzinza D, Barrett S, Wright AKA, Wootton D, Glennie SJ, Baple K, Knott A, Mortimer K, Russell DG, Heyderman RS, Gordon SB. Household air pollution causes dose-dependent inflammation and altered phagocytosis in human macrophages. Submitted.

      Piddock K, Gordon SB, Ngwira A, Msukwa M, Nadeau G, Davis J, Nyirenda M, Mortimer K. A cross-sectional study of the demographics and household fuel use among a periurban population in Malawi. Annals of the American Thoracic Society (in press).

      Jary H, Gordon SB, Mortimer K. Feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial of a cookstove intervention in rural Malawi. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 2014;18(2):240-247.

      Finney LJ, Feary JR, Leonardi-Bee J, Gordon SB, Mortimer K. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in sub Saharan Africa: A systematic review. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease 2013;17(5):583-589

      Evans H, Mahmood N, Fullerton DG, Rylance J, Gonani A, Gordon SB, Mortimer K, Allain T. Cross-sectional assessment of oxygen saturations among all adult medical inpatients over a 24-hour period in a Malawian hospital: does oxygen provision meet demand? Pneumonia 2012;1:3-6.

      Borland R, Li L, Cummings MK, O’Connor R, Mortimer K, Wikmans T, Ramstrom L, King B, McNeil A. Effects of a Fact Sheet on beliefs about the harmfulness of alternative nicotine delivery systems compared with cigarettes. Harm Reduction Journal 2012;9:19.

      Borland R, Li L, Mortimer K, McNeill A, King B, O’Connor RJ. The acceptability of nicotine products as alternatives to cigarettes: Findings from two pilot studies. Harm Reduction Journal 2011;8:27.

      Feary J, Venn A, Mortimer K, Brown A, Hooi D, Falcone F, Pritchard D, Britton J. Experimental hookworm infection as potential therapy for asthma: A randomised placebo controlled trial. Clinical and Experimental Allergy 2010; 40: 299-306.

      Oborne J, Mortimer K, Hubbard RB, Tattersfield AE, Harrison TW. Quadrupling the Dose of Inhaled Corticosteroid to Prevent Asthma Exacerbations: A Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo Controlled, Parallel Group, Clinical Trial. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2009;180:598-602.

      Feary J, Venn A, Brown A, Hooi D, Falcone F, Mortimer K, Pritchard D, Britton J. Safety of therapeutic hookworm infection in individuals with measurable airway responsiveness: a randomized placebo-controlled feasibility study. Clinical and Experimental Allergy 2009;39:1060-1068.

      Whale CI, Sovani MP, Mortimer KJ, Harrison TW, Tattersfield AE. Systemic and bronchodilator effects of inhaled rac-formoterol in subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a dose-response study.Br J Clin Pharmacol 2008 Jun;65(6):841-7.

      Sovani MP, Whale CI, Oborne J, Cooper S, Mortimer K, Ekström T, Tattersfield AE, Harrison TW. Poor adherence with inhaled corticosteroids for asthma: can using a single inhaler containing budesonide and formoterol help? British Journal of General Practice 2008;58:37-43.

      Mortimer K, Harrison TW, Tang Y, Wu K, Lewis S, Hochhaus G, Tattersfield AE. Plasma concentrations of fluticasone propionate  and budesonide following inhalation: effect of induced brochoconstriction. Br J Clin Pharm 2007;64:439-444.

      Mortimer K, Brown A, Feary J, Jagger C, Lewis S, Antoniak M, Pritchard D, Britton J. Dose-ranging study for trials of therapeutic infection with necator americanus in humans. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2006;75:914-920.

      Mortimer K, Harrison TW, Tang Y, Wu K, Lewis S, Sahasranaman S, Hochhaus G, Tattersfield AE. Plasma concentrations of inhaled corticosteroids in relation to airflow obstruction in asthma. Br J Clin Pharm 2006;62:412-419.

      Whale CI. Sovani MP, Mortimer K, Oborne J, Cooper S, Harrison TW, Tattersfield AE. Effects of rac-albuterol on arterial blood gases in patients with stable hypercapnic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Br J Clin Pharm 2006;62:153-157.

      Mortimer KJ, Tata LJ, Smith CJP, West J, Harrison TW, Tattersfield AE, Hubbard RB. Oral and Inhaled Corticosteroids and Adrenal Insufficiency: A case-control study. Thorax 2006;61:405-408.

      Editorials, traditional reviews and book chapters

      Gordon SB, Mortimer K, Masekela R. Respiratory problems in the tropics including asthma. Chapter in 23rdedition of Manson’s Tropical Diseases. 2014.

      Gill, G, Wilkinson M, Mortimer K. Noncommunicable diseases. Chapter in 7th edition of Tropical Medicine Lecture Notes. 2014.

      Watkins L, Soriano JB, Mortimer K. Getting risks right on inhaled corticosteroids and adrenal insufficiency: is there a crisis? ERJ. 2013 In press.

      Mortimer K, Gordon S, Jindal SK, Accinelli RA, Balmes J, Martin WJ II. Household air pollution is a major avoidable risk factor for cardio-respiratory disease. Chest. 2012 Nov 1;142(5):1308-15.

      Diette GB…Mortimer K et al. Obstructive lung disease and exposure to burning biomass fuel in the indoor environment. Global Heart Journal 2012;7(3):265-270.

      Gordon SB, Mortimer K, Masekela R. Respiratory problems in the tropics including asthma. Chapter in 23rdedition of Manson’s Tropical Diseases. 2012.

      Fullerton D, Mortimer K, Gordon SB. Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and biomass fuel. Chapter in Principles of Medicine in Africa. 2012.

      Hodgson D, Mortimer K, Harrison T. Budesonide/formoterol in the treatment of asthma. Expert Rev Respir Med. 2010;4(5):557-66.

      Knox A, Mortimer K. Combining inhaled glucocorticoids and long acting β2 adrenoceptor agonists in asthma and COPD. British Journal of Pharmacology 2008;153:1085-1086.

      Mortimer KJ, Tattersfield AE. Benefit versus risk for oral, inhaled and nasal glucocorticosteroids. Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America 2005;25:523-539.

      Mortimer K, Harrison T, Tattersfield AE. Effects of Inhaled Corticosteroids on Bone. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2005;94:15-22.

      Tattersfield AE, Harrison T, Hubbard R, Mortimer K. Safety of Inhaled Corticosteroids. Proc Am Thorac Soc 2004;1:171-5.