Infectious Diseases

UCLPartners’ Infectious Diseases Programme recognises the large burden of morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases. In our geographical location in the centre of London, we also witness a large number of imported infections from around the world. Our population includes the highest incidence of HIV in the UK, and also a resurgence of tuberculosis.

We have strength across clinical and academic spheres. Three of our hospitals –  UCLH, Royal Free Hospital (RFH) and North Middlesex – host dedicated Infectious Disease services, and all hospitals take care of HIV infected patients.  On the academic side, the addition of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to UCL within the partnership provides the strongest, most comprehensive academic grouping of infection research activity in the UK.

The Programme’s key areas of activity include:

• Improved patient pathways. Many key infections are chronic, and, in the case of HIV, lifelong. The future of cost effective care requires flexibility in approach, with increasing involvement of community and primary care; more consistent patient pathways; increased synergies between specialist centres; and improvements in outcome measurements. We aim to address all these issues across the key infections of TB and HIV, providing new models of high quality care for the next decade.
• Translational research. A key challenge is to improve the research pathways leading from basic invention through to delivery of patient care. UCLPartners has enabled some significant new developments to enhance this pathway. Firstly, UCL and LSHTM have entered into an agreement to develop a joint Institute for Pathogen Research. Based on the Bloomsbury campus in central London, this will be a flagship group of activities, covering the basic biology of infectious agents, through to development of new treatments, vaccines and diagnostics. Secondly, and linked to the UCLPartners Immunology and Transplantation Programme, the Institute of Immunology, Infection and Transplantation, based on the RFH campus, will lead the way in addressing the gap in treatment and prevention of complications of immunological disorders.
• Access to care. Migrants are at particular risk of presenting to health care at a late stage of their disease. This is the case with chronic infections (often imported, as well as diseases of poverty), but is also relevant to other conditions such as mental illness, cancer and cardiovascular disease. We have launched an initiative across North and North East London to map the ways in which migrants access the informal and formal health care system. We aim then to develop appropriate pathways to speed up this access, thus leading to reduced morbidity and mortality in this large population.

For more information, please contact Professor Deenan Pillay, Programme Director for Infectious Diseases at UCLPartners.