Transforming Health

• Over 30 pathogens with pandemic potential now identified by the WHO.

• 249 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2022.

• 41 million lives lost to cancer, heart and lung disease each year.

The School of Public Health is addressing global health challenges that affect communities around the world. From tackling infectious disease outbreaks like Covid-19, Ebola and Mpox to countering the rise of lifestyle-related conditions like cancer, heart disease and dementia, our work combines cutting-edge data analytics with global networks of influence to improve health outcomes worldwide.

Philanthropic support will help us push this work further by expanding research on emerging pathogens with pandemic potential and advancing research on how diet influences health. With philanthropic investment, we can help to protect the health of communities worldwide.

With your support, we will:

• Create academic posts in data analytics and infectious disease outbreak modelling
• Establish a Centre for Food and Nutrition to understand the relationship between diet and health
• Expand research into antimicrobial resistance and emerging pathogens

• Worldwide, 160 million children with obesity.

• More than 110,000 children aged 5-16 in London have a mental health disorder.

• 700,000 of London’s children live in poverty.

Every child deserves the best start in life. By focusing on children’s health from the earliest stages, we’re helping to ensure that more young people are happier and healthier. Our researchers are uncovering how genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors interact in early life to impact lifelong health. We are exploring imaginative new ways to address childhood obesity, identifying risk factors for childhood asthma and improving care for premature babies to support their health into adulthood. We are also world-leading on research around children’s mental health, including the effects of mobile technology on cognitive development and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teenagers’ wellbeing. With philanthropic support, we can expand this work, launching new research on mental health, obesity and the effects of pollution on child development, and improving long-term health outcomes for pre-term babies.

With your support, we will:

• Expand neonatal research to improve care and outcomes for babies
• Grow research on the effects of pollution on child development
• Counter the crisis in teenage mental health

Better community health relies on effective, high-quality healthcare. Yet today’s health systems face immense challenges, from rising demand to staff shortages and chronic underinvestment. How can we deliver the transformational change needed to build healthcare systems that can adapt to growing demand, ensure equitable access and build resilience against future crises?

Rising demand, underinvestment and staff shortages are stressing healthcare systems. In the UK, one in ten people now wait more than 12 hours to be seen in A&E and public satisfaction in the NHS reached its lowest level ever in 2024. Globally, by 2030 there will be a global shortfall of 18 million healthcare workers.

At the School of Public Health, we are driving change by taking a ‘whole system, whole population’ approach. Our research brings together health economics, health policy and systems science, and data science and healthanalytics to create advanced computational models that provide a detailed picture of how healthcare systems function as a whole. These models allow health leaders to simulate the effects of major interventions, enabling evidence-based decision-making before changes are implemented. This approach is already making a difference – groundbreaking work in Malawi has shown how a whole-system model can deliver better, more efficient care.

Building on this success, we are developing a similar ‘digital twin’ for healthcare across Northwest London. This ambitious project will improve care by equipping decision-makers with the insights needed to guide investments in healthcare infrastructure, workforce planning and service delivery. With philanthropic support, we can expand this work to benefit communities globally, helping to build healthcare systems that meet today’s needs while being prepared for the challenges of tomorrow. Philanthropic support will be crucial in realising this ambition, enabling the creation of a Centre for Healthcare Analytics, Simulation and Evaluation under the direction of a new Chair in Healthcare Analytics.

• 2 billion worldwide aged 60+ by 2050.

• 24% of people in the UK will be aged 65+ by 2041.

• 982,000 people in the UK are estimated to have dementia.

It’s not just about adding years to life, but also life to years. While people are living longer, these extra years don’t always mean extra years of good health. Hundreds of millions worldwide face age-related illnesses like arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and dementia, which limit independence and enjoyment of life, and put pressure on health systems. Our research explores how genetics, lifestyle and diet interact over a lifetime to protect against, or increase the risk of, poor health in later life. We use large-scale, long-term studies on heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and dementia to track the health of thousands of people over many years, to uncover factors that promote healthy ageing. With philanthropic support, we can expand our focus on women’s health across the life course – a historically neglected field – and establish a Centre for Healthy Ageing to level up work aimed at preventing physical and cognitive decline in later life.

With your support, we will:

• Expand our focus on women’s health across the life course
• Establish a Centre for Healthy Ageing