The Faculty’s vision is to deliver outstanding contributions to reduce the evolving disease burden related to infections and global health inequity. The range of disciplines represented is broad, including all laboratory-based work at LSHTM, and encompassing a truly 'bench to boardroom' portfolio with research approaches from fundamental biology through clinical research to impact on policy and practice.
The Faculty’s main research approaches include:
- interdisciplinary study of pathogens, their interaction with hosts and vectors and the diseases that they cause;
- discovery, development and evaluation of methods, tools and interventions for diagnosis, prevention, treatment and control of disease burden related to infections and global health inequity;
- operational research and implementation science to inform policy and practice.
The Faculty has around 300 academic staff, 160 support staff and 135 research degree students. Its main research interests are broadly defined as vector-borne diseases, especially malaria; respiratory diseases including tuberculosis and bacterial pneumonia; enteric infections; HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; neglected tropical diseases including trachoma, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis and trypanosomiasis; and the prevention of blindness.
The Faculty is positioned at the interface between laboratory science, clinical medicine and population health, and has close links with colleagues and collaborators in more than 100 countries. This ensures that research is focussed on problems of major public health importance and that results can be rapidly translated into policy and programmatic practice. It has major strengths in the genome sciences, and exploits this expertise to better understand drug-resistance, disease transmission and pathogenic mechanisms. The Faculty contributes to LSHTM centres which bring together staff and students across LSHTM with interests in specific topics. Among our staff are the directors and/or co-directors of the LSHTM Centres for Antimicrobial Resistance, Malaria, TB and Vaccines.
Facilities and units
Teaching and Diagnostic Unit
The Teaching and Diagnostic Unit (TDU) offers a referral service for the identification of parasites from human and primate clinical specimens, and provides teaching and practical training in Diagnostic Parasitology.