DrEray Ontas

Dr Eray Öntaş is a Public Health Physician and Lecturer in Epidemiology at Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Türkiye. He holds an MD and a specialist qualification in Public Health and is completing a PhD in Medical Informatics at Middle East Technical University. His work lies at the intersection of epidemiology, public health, health systems, and data-driven approaches to health emergencies.

• His research interests span infectious disease epidemiology and surveillance, digital and participatory surveillance, health systems and workforce, health inequalities, humanitarian health, disaster preparedness and response, and the use of data and analytical methods to support public health decision-making.
• His professional experience covers different levels of the health system, including preventive and primary healthcare, health service management, and public health emergency and disaster response. His work has included preventive programmes for refugee populations, pandemic preparedness, district-level health management, and the public health response to the 2023 Türkiye earthquakes.
• He developed SALGINTR, a digital participatory surveillance system for influenza-like illness in Türkiye, using a network of physicians to generate near-real-time surveillance data.
• Dr Öntaş has contributed to the Lancet Commission on Health, Conflict and Forced Displacement as a NextGen Humanitarian Scholar, which provided an opportunity to engage with research on conflict, displacement, disrupted health systems, and humanitarian responses across different settings.

At Imperial College London, he will work within the School of Public Health, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, under the supervision of Professor Katharina Hauck. His work will focus on infectious disease epidemiology, health systems, and data-driven approaches to understanding and responding to health emergencies.