Ibrahim Abubakar

He qualified in medicine in 1992 from Ahmadu Bello University and initially trained in general medicine before specialising in public health medicine.[3] He trained in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine graduating with an MSc in 1999, DPH from the University of Cambridge in 2000 and a PhD from the University of East Anglia in 2007.[4] He was elected to the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2020 in recognition of his research in infectious disease epidemiology and migration and health.[5]

He was head of TB at Public Health England.[6] Prior to his appointment at UCL, he was Professor in Health Protection at the Norwich Medical School. In 2011, he was awarded a Senior Research Fellowship by NIHR on tuberculosis[7] and in 2016 he was appointed as an NIHR Senior Investigator.[8]

He is the chair of the Wellcome Trust Population Health Expert Review Group[9] and the Lancet Migration Initiative.[10] He is an Advisory Board member of the Public Health Board of Open Society Foundation[11] and of the MRC Global Health Board.[12] He is also on the Editorial Board of the European Respiratory Journal and BMC Medicine.[13][14]

He served as the chair of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Tuberculosis (STAG TB) from 2016 to 2019[15] and co-chaired the NICE TB guidelines development group,[16] and was a board member, Africa Research Excellence Fund.[17]

Prof Abubakar led the UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health[18] which dispelled myths regarding the perceived threat from migration to public health and urged action on improved health provision for migrants. The results were especially topical in the context of mass migration in the Mediterranean and in central and North America. The findings of the commission achieved widespread media coverage, such as reports in The Guardian, NBC News, and at the World Economic Forum.[19][20][21]

He co-edited the Oxford Specialist Handbook in Infectious Disease Epidemiology published in 2016.[22] His work on mass gathering medicine in 2012 as part of the Lancet infectious Diseases Mass Gathering Medicine Series[23] generated media interest due to the potential impact of pandemics in crowded settings (London 2012: Mass gathering risks disease spreading).[24]

He is widely published in tuberculosis epidemiology, diagnosis and control with media coverage including research on tuberculosis screening,[25] work showing high risk of TB in pregnancy and the postpartum period, tuberculosis and air travel,[26] and on the effects of BCG in TB prevention.[27] He leads the E-DETECT TB project in Europe for the early detection of tuberculosis,[28] which in Romania has led to the expansion of mobile x-ray screening through €15 million investment in similar units to travel around the country.[29]