ProfessorAubrey Cunnington

I am the Head of Department of Infectious Disease and Professor of Paediatric Infectious Disease. I am also an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. My research focuses on the interactions between hosts and pathogens which result in severe infectious diseases, particularly severe malaria. I am interested in understanding why some people get very ill and die from malaria, whilst others have a less severe illness. I am also interested in applying these findings to improve diagnosis and treatment of severe malaria and other infectious diseases. My group uses a variety of approaches, ranging from clinical studies and transcriptomics, to in vitro and in vivo models.

Together with Prof Halidou Tinto, I lead an NIHR Global Health Research Group on Digital Diagnostics for African Health Systems. This multidisciplinary initiative aims to develop innovative diagnostic tools to tackle malaria and other infectious diseases in Africa.

I am part of the EU-Horizon 2020 DIAMONDS consortium which seeks to develop personalized management strategies for children with febrile illness based on new diagnostic tests.

Until 2023 I was co-convener of the Imperial College Network of Excellence in Malaria, an interdisciplinary network of more than 100 malaria researchers at Imperial College working together to eradicate malaria.

I am a module lead for the MSc in Applied Paediatrics and short course in Paediatric Infectious Diseases, and teach on a variety of other related courses.