Professor Alison Elliott honored with OBE for contributions to global health

Leading clinical researcher Professor Alison Elliott has been honoured with an OBE in the King's New Year Honours for services to medicine and global health.

Based in Uganda, she is Professor of Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and theme leader for vaccines research at the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRC/UVRI and LSHTM) Uganda Research Unit.

​​The award of OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) recognises her exceptional and sustained contribution to developing medical research capacity in Zambia and Uganda, building strong research collaboration with UK institutions, and helping inspire many young African scientists.

Professor Elliott said: "It is a tremendous privilege to work in Africa, first Zambia and now Uganda, with many wonderful colleagues, team members, communities and friends. I gratefully accept this honour on behalf of them all."

Professor Alison Elliott's OBE is a fitting tribute to her outstanding leadership in global health research. Her contributions to science are matched by her dedication to fostering a vibrant and collaborative research environment in Africa. We are immensely proud to celebrate this remarkable achievement with her."

Professor Moffatt Nyirenda, Director of the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit

Professor Liam Smeeth, Director of LSHTM, said: "As well as her considerable research output, Alison has made tremendous contributions in capacity strengthening over many years. She has helped build the next generation of scientists in Uganda and beyond, and the beneficial impact of this work will continue for many years to come. The honour is richly deserved."

In Zambia in 1988, Professor Elliott was one of the first to describe unusual features of tuberculosis (TB) in people who were HIV-positive, and provided evidence to support the World Health Organization's recommendation for TB preventive therapy for those with HIV.

She then established a research collaboration between LSHTM and the University of Zambia Medical School that laid the foundation for Zambart, a research institute which continues to flourish with over 100 Zambian researchers working on TB and HIV, climate change and non-communicable diseases.

Since 1996, Professor Elliott has been based at the MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit, investigating the role of co-infections on vaccine response outcomes. She also established the Entebbe Mother and Baby Study, which has provided unique insights into how early life experiences affect health outcomes in an African setting.

Professor Elliott is also a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences and of the Ugandan National Academy of Sciences.