Meet the experts Nov 2009
On this page you will find biographies of each of our Experts who are all extremely knowledgeable in the field of meningitis. We are very grateful for their support.
Professor Dlawer Ala'Aldeen
Professor of Clinical Microbiology and the Head of the Molecular Bacteriology and Immunology Group at Nottingham University.
Dlawer Ala'Aldeen has had a long-standing interest in the study of Neisseria meningitidis infections and vaccine development. His main focus is on the molecular pathogenesis of, and human genetic response to, N. meningitidis and Campylobacter jejuni and together with his research group is interested in defining the role of bacterial secreted proteins in host-pathogen interaction, having carried out extensive studies on meningococcal type I and V secreted proteins. Another area of interest is the identification of host receptors for bacterial virulence factors. They have also studied the population genetics of N. meningitidis and made significant contributions to this field. Prof Ala'Aldeen's clinical commitments consist of the management of patients with infectious diseases, control of hospital infection, and participating in the professional aspects of the diagnostic laboratory at Nottingham's University and City hospitals. For more information please see Professor Ala'Aldeen's page on the University of Nottingham website.
Professor Adam Finn
Head of the Academic Unit of Child Health at Bristol Medical School, Dept of Clinical Science South Bristol, and an honorary consultant in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
Adam Finn is director of the South West Medicines for Children Research Network and heads the Bristol Children's Vaccine Centre. His main research interests include mucosal immunology relating to bacterial vaccines, in particular pneumococcus and clinical trials of vaccines and medicines in children. For further details about the work being undertaken at Bristol Children's Vaccine Centre please see Professor Finn's page on The University of Bristol website.
Professor Robert Read
Professor of Infectious Diseases and Honorary Consultant Physician to the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust.
Robert Read's clinical work is based at the Infectious Disease Unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, and his research is conducted within the Henry Wellcome Laboratories of the Sheffield University School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He received undergraduate and postgraduate clinical training at Sheffield, Leeds, Bristol, London and Nottingham hospitals, and trained in research at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, and at University of California at San Francisco. His research interests include pathogenesis and prevention of meningococcal disease. For more information please see Professor Read's full biography on the University of Sheffield's wesbite.
Professor Michael Levin
Michael Levin is Professor of Paediatrics and International Child Health at Imperial College London. He trained in medicine in South Africa and in paediatrics in the UK before specialising in infectious diseases. He was Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Great Ormond Street Hospital before being appointed as Professor of Paediatrics at Imperial College London in 1990. His research has focused on life threatening infections of childhood (a) meningococcal disease and (b) childhood tuberculosis.
In collaboration with links in Kenya, he has investigated the role of fluid depletion in severe malaria and undertaken studies which suggest that volume expansion with albumin may reduce mortality (exploring how to prevent malaria deaths).
Professor Levin currently heads an international EU funded consortium studying novel diagnostic methods for tuberculosis in Africa and also leads an EU funded consortium funding the genetic basis of meningococcal disease.
He is also a Principal Investigator within the Centre for Respiratory Infection.
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