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Oxford has been at the forefront of cutting edge research investigating the basis of disease involving children and interventions to improve child health for many decades.

In the last 25 years, research in paediatrics at the University has led major new developments in tropical medicine (from malaria and dengue to health services research in resource limited settings). This includes the genetic basis of cardiac and infectious disease, the immunology of HIV in children, nutritional management of children with chronic neurological impairment, understanding of pain in the neonatal period, thymic development, haematological development in Downs syndrome, new knowledge about the molecular microbiology of important pathogens affecting children (e.g. Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae type b), epidemiology of infections caused by encapsulated bacteria, design and development of new vaccines for bacterial infections, efficacy and impact of meningitis, typhoid and pneumococcal vaccines and cutting edge vaccine research which now underpins both adult and paediatric immunisation around the world. The University leads the world in research on meningitis, an important disease of children and is the top rated University in infection and immunity in the UK.

As a medical specialty with a unique interest in early life adaptations to altered genetic programmes and environmental cues, Paediatrics is best positioned to interrogate and define the developmental origins that impact on human health. Indeed, every specialty in Paediatrics is involved in the care and study of developmental disorders and is therefore interested in the fundamentals of developmental biology.

Research in Paediatrics in Oxford spans basic, clinical, interventional and epidemiological research in a wide range of disciplines with a strong emphasis on translational research underpinned by basic science. The University is particularly strong in developmental biology, with a particular focus on immunology; clinical investigation and applied immunology in paediatric gastroenterology; tropical paediatrics; design, development and clinical/immunological evaluation of vaccines; and infectious diseases of children including HIV. Supervisors are situated both in the Department of Paediatrics and interdisciplinary institutes at the University including the Weatherall Institute for Molecular Medicine, the Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, The Peter Medawar Building, the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, and across the Oxford Tropical Medicine Network. Additionally, the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences has a paediatric research theme aimed at improving the care of children in primary care settings.

Supervisors in Paediatrics


Fiona Alderdice

Senior Social Scientist, National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit

Sarah Atkinson

Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant in Paediatrics and Paediatric ...

Cathy Creswell

Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology

Mike English

Philip Goulder

Professor of Immunology

Anthony Harnden

Professor of Primary Care

Georg Holländer

Hoffmann and Action Medical Research Professor of Developmental Medicine

Paul Johnson

Director of Oxford Islet Isolation and Islet Transplant Programmes and ...

Dominic Kelly

BRC Consultant in Paediatrics and Vaccinology.

Dan Perry

Associate Professor, Orthopaedics & Trauma Surgery

Sir Andrew Pollard

Ashall Professor of Infection & Immunity

Carlo Rinaldi

Associate Professor

Oliver Rivero-Arias

Associate Professor of Health Economics

Irene Roberts

Emeritus Professor of Paediatric Haematology

Christine S. Rollier

Associate Professor in Vaccinology

Anindita Roy

Professor of Paediatric Haematology

Rebeccah Slater

Professor of Paediatric Neuroscience

Matthew Snape

Professor in Paediatrics and Vaccinology

Simon Stanworth

Professor of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine

Peter Sullivan

Emeritus Professor in Paediatric Gastroenterology

Kay Wang

Senior Clinical Research Fellow

Matthew Wood

Professor of Neuroscience

Courses

Direct Entry Research Degrees