Dr Jake Dunning

Dr Jake Dunning is working in the United Kingdom as Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Emerging and High Consequence Infectious Diseases at the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford; Consultant in Infectious Diseases and HCID, Royal Free Hospital, London; Director, NHS England High Consequence Infectious Diseases Network; Honorary Consultant, Reference Virology, UK Health Security Agency; and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor, University College London.

Dr Jake Dunning’s research focusses on emerging and high consequence infectious diseases, covering mechanisms of pathogenesis and transmission, diagnostics , characterisation of disease, and clinical trials of potential treatments. Between 2009 and 2013, he worked on the Mechanisms of Severe Acute Influenza Consortium (MOSAIC) study, completing a PhD in viral immunology under the supervision of Prof Peter Openshaw CBE. In 2014-2015, Dr Dunning was the clinical lead for ERGO’s Ebola treatment trials in West Africa, working with Prof Sir Peter Horby. Between 2015 and 2021 he was a consultant at Public Health England, with responsibility for respiratory and enteric viruses, and latterly as the Head of Emerging Infections and Zoonoses and a National Incident Director for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Dunning re-joined ERGO in April 2021, where he’s leading on ERGO's contributions to the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST), the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections (HPRU-EZI), and the European Clinical Research Alliance for Infectious Diseases (ECRAID). He has been involved in the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) and the Clinical Characterisation Protocol since their inception, and he continues to support ISARIC projects including COVID-19, plague, Lassa fever and monkeypox.  Dr Dunning he’s also a core investigator within the UK CCP and ISARIC 4C.

Dr Dunning’s clinical practice is at the Royal Free Hospital, London, where he’s a Consultant in Infectious Diseases and, since April 2022, Lead for High Consequence Infectious Diseases. His department houses a nationally commissioned Airborne HCID Treatment Centre, and a National High Level Isolation Unit for treating patients with Contact HCIDs, including Lassa Fever, Ebola virus disease and Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever.

Dr Dunning has been involved in clinical, public health and research responses to viral haemorrhagic fevers, novel coronavirus infections, influenza (seasonal, avian and pandemic), enterovirus infections, acute flaccid paralysis, orthopox infections, and Zika virus.

I co-leads projects and co-supervises PhD students in the NIHR Health Protection Research Units in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections. He also co-leads the NIHR-funded Assessment of Transmission and Contagiousness of COVID-19 in Contacts (ATACCC) Study. His time is split equally between clinical practice at the Royal Free and research at Oxford.

Dr Dunning’s research reflects the common goal of ERGO: conducting and enabling meaningful clinical research, with a focus on patient-centred projects and an aim to reduce the impact of emerging infections, epidemics and pandemics. In addition to working on current and persistent challenges.