Centre Director: Professor Neil French

Neil is Professor of Infectious Diseases and Global Health at the University of Liverpool and consultant in Infectious Diseases at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital Trust. He has spent the majority of his career investigating and understanding the health issues of Africa, spending 15 of the last 20 years living in Uganda and Malawi. His primary research focus is on bacterial disease, the interaction with HIV and prevention by vaccination. Although best described as a clinical epidemiologist he works with a broad array of research disciplines to promote vaccine development and policy.

Following medical School at the University of Edinburgh, Neil gravitated to Liverpool training in General (Internal) Medicine and Infectious Diseases. His first post in Africa took him to the  MRC programme on AIDS in Uganda.  Following this a Wellcome Intermediate Clinical Fellowship took him to the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Laboratories in Blantyre Malawi and then to the directorship of the Wellcome Trust funded Karonga Prevention Study in northern Malawi. Returning to Liverpool in 2011, he continues to undertake research in Malawi as well as in Liverpool and supervise fellows and PhD students.

Click to see Neil's publications in the site database.

Tel: +44 151 795 9630

Email: N.French@liverpool.ac.uk

Centre Manager: Mr John Spafford

John is the WTCGHR Centre Manager. He provides managerial oversight for the daily operations of the Centre, secretarial support for its Steering Group & Board membership, and strategic support for the development of Fellowships and other Centre activities.

John joined the Centre in October 2013 having previously worked in the University’s Business Gateway. He received his undergraduate degree from the University’s Computer Science Department and then went on to complete an MSc in Electronic Business Strategy & Systems at Liverpool Management School.

Tel: +44 151 794 5544

Email: john.spafford@liverpool.ac.uk

Shipping & Logistics Officer: Mr Matt Hanlon

Matt joined WTCGHR as storekeeper in January 2011. His key role is procurement of laboratory and medical equipment and consumables for overseas projects. He then manages their onward shipment to researchers in several countries, including Malawi, South Africa, Ecuador and Vietnam.




Tel: +44 151 794 4223

Fax: +44 151 794 6663

Email: matt.hanlon@lstmed.ac.uk

Programme Support Officer: Grace Reed

Grace joined The University of Liverpool in November 2018 as a Programme Support Officer for the WTCGHR. She supports fellows in the Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Programme, and overseas colleagues with a wide range of administrative queries. Grace has recently moved to Liverpool after completing her BA (Hons) Geography degree at Queen Mary University of London and working at London Business School in a similar role.

Tel: +44 151 794 4220

Email: Grace.Reed@liverpool.ac.uk