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Neil Ferguson (epidemiologist)

Neil Morris Ferguson OBE FMedSci (born 1968) is a British epidemiologist[3] and professor of mathematical biology, who specialises in the patterns of spread of infectious disease in humans and animals. He is the director of the Jameel Institute, and of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, and head of the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Vice-Dean for Academic Development in the Faculty of Medicine, all at Imperial College London.

Ferguson has used mathematical modelling to provide data on several disease outbreaks including the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, the swine flu outbreak in 2009 in the UK, the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak and the ebola epidemic in Western Africa in 2016. His work has also included research on mosquito-borne diseases including zika fever, yellow fever, dengue fever and malaria.


In February 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was first detected in China, Ferguson and his team used statistical models to estimate that cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were significantly under-detected in China. He is part of the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team.

Early life and education[edit]

Ferguson was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland,[4] but grew up in Mid Wales, where he attended Llanidloes High School.[2] His father was an educational psychologist, while his mother was a librarian who later became an Anglican priest.[2]


He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics in 1990 at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in theoretical physics in 1994 at Linacre College, Oxford.[5][6] His doctoral research investigated interpolations from crystalline to dynamically triangulated random surfaces and was supervised by John Wheater.[2][1][7] It was there that he attended a lecture by Robert May on modelling the HIV epidemic, which together with the death of a friend's brother from AIDS, interested him in pursuing the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases.[8]

Closure of schools during an influenza pandemic

[29]

"Travel patterns in China"

[77]

Identification of MERS-CoV in dromedary camels

[78]

Infectious disease: Tough choices to reduce Ebola transmission

[79]

Modelling the impact on virus transmission of Wolbachia-mediated blocking of dengue virus infection of Aedes aegypti

[80]

Assessing the epidemiological effect of wolbachia for dengue control

[81]

Countering the Zika epidemic in Latin America

[82]

Challenges and opportunities in controlling mosquito-borne infections

[83]

[84]

Personal life[edit]

Ferguson reported on 18 March 2020 that he had developed the symptoms of COVID-19, and self-isolated. He recovered after a mild illness.[58][87] Ferguson is separated from his wife and has one son.[88]

SAGE –

Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies

CovidSim