Tom is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. His research uses population-based epidemiological studies to examine the distribution and determinants of chronic diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on diabetes in the townships of Durban, South Africa.
Tom is a NIHR/BRC PhD fellow with the Sandhu Group at the Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. His supervisors Dr Manj Sandhu and Dr Liz Young span both institutions. The main focus of his PhD research is the Durban Diabetes Study (DDS), a collaborative initiative between the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
The DDS is a population-based cross-sectional survey of 10,000 individuals in an urban black population in the eThekwini Municipality (city of Durban) in South Africa. The survey combines health, lifestyle and socioeconomic questionnaire data with standardised biophysical measurements, biomarkers for non-communicable and infectious diseases, and genetic data. The aim is to utilise this rich platform to investigate the distribution, interrelation and aetiology of a broad range of lifestyle, medical and genetic factors and their association with diabetes—the primary research focus of the study—together with other chronic diseases and traits including hypertension, dyslipidaemia, HIV and hepatitis C (HCV). Understanding the burden of these diseases and the individual contribution and impact of their risk factors is critical for developing health care policies for disease management and prevention in the region.
Before starting his PhD Tom completed an MPhil in Public Health at the University of Cambridge and BSc in Biology from Imperial College London. He has also worked on the policy side of global health research undertaking projects for the Ministry of Health in Botswana and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health (UK). Tom maintains this interest alongside his PhD research, most recently co-editing a report for the Africa All-Party Parliamentary Group on community engagement in health crisis response and health systems strengthening in the context of the recent West African Ebola crisis.
Recent publications
Study Profile: The Durban Diabetes Study (DDS): a platform for chronic disease research
T.R.Hird, E.H.Young, F.J.Pirie, J.Riha, T.M.Esterhuizen, B.O’Leary, M.I.McCarthy, M.S.Sandhu and A.A.Motala
Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics / volume 1 / January 2016 / e2
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/gheg.2015.3