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Dr Simon Stoneham

A head and shoulders photo of Simon Stoneham

Dr Simon Stoneham (BA, BMBCh, MRes, PhD, MRCP, DTM&H)

Academic Clinical Lecturer in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
E: s.stoneham2@bsms.ac.uk
Location: Write Up Room 1, Medical Research Building, BN1 9PX

Area of expertise: Infectious Diseases and Microbiology

Research areas: Host-Pathogen Interactions, Pathogenesis of Infection, Clinical management of Infections.

Department Administrator
Name: Debbie Miller/Lisa Baker
Email d.miller@bsms.ac.uk / L.m.baker@bsms.ac.uk

Biography

Simon is an academic clinical lecturer in the department of Global Health and Infection at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. His research focuses on understanding the pathogenesis of bacterial infection to identify targets for antimicrobial therapy. Simon has integrated his experience of basic laboratory science and clinical research studies to maximise his research impact. Simon is currently a Specialist Registrar in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology in the Kent Sussex and Surrey Deanery.

Simon completed his MRC-funded PhD in 2025 at Imperial College London investigating how adaptation to the lung environment in Cystic Fibrosis affects P. aeruginosa susceptibility to antimicrobials. During the COVID-19 Pandemic Simon was heavily involved in the delivery of clinical services in Brighton allowing him to be one of the first to recognise the increased risk of blood clots associated with the disease but also to contribute to the synthesis of national guidance developed by a collaboration of UK infection societies.

Simon studied medicine at Oxford University and graduated in 2011, completing an intercalated degree in Infection and Immunity in 2008. He completed an NIHR funded academic foundation program in Sheffield before achieving distinction in the Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 2014. Simon completed his SHO rotations in Oxford before taking up an Academic Clinical Fellowship in Brighton in 2016 investigating the intracellular persistence of S. aureus within macrophage.

Research

Simon’s research combines basic laboratory science with clinical research with a focus on bringing insights from the clinical setting into basic scientific research to increase the impact of pre-clinical studies for patients. Based on his successful PhD, Simon is currently developing models of respiratory infection with a view to better understand how opportunistic infections establish themselves in vulnerable patient groups and how these insights can be used to develop novel treatment strategies. Simon’s laboratory research to date has included complex in vitro models of respiratory infection focusing on P. aeruginosa and intracellular models of S. aureus as a reservoir of disseminated infection. Simon has developed successful collaborations locally and contributed to bioinformatics studies of S. aureus as well as studies examining the susceptibility of M. chimera to antimicrobials. Simon has also undertaken targeted clinical research to pertinent clinical challenges investigating the diagnostic yield of blood cultures and recognising early in the COVID-19 pandemic the risk of blood clots in hospitalised patients.

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Teaching

Locally, Simon is involved in delivering undergraduate teaching in Infectious diseases and microbiology at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and post-graduate teaching at the Royal Sussex County hospital. Simon is regularly involved in the assessment of other doctors providing supervision and training as part of his clinical role as a senior registrar. During his PhD Simon successfully supervised both undergraduate and master’s level science students carrying out research projects in the laboratory. Nationally, Simon has helped establish and lead the early career research committee of the BIA between 2021 and 2024 and was instrumental in developing a national mentorship scheme.

Selected publications

Mugglestone MA, Ratnaraja NV, Bak A, Islam J, Wilson JA, Bostock J, Moses SE, Price JR, Weinbren M, Loveday HP, Rivett L, Stoneham SM, Wilson APR. Presymptomatic, asymptomatic and post-symptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2: joint British Infection Association (BIA), Healthcare Infection Society (HIS), Infection Prevention Society (IPS) and Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) guidance. BMC Infect Dis. 2022 May 12;22(1):453.

Cantillon D, Goff A, Taylor S, Salehi E, Fidler K, Stoneham S, Waddell SJ. Searching for new therapeutic options for the uncommon pathogen Mycobacterium chimaera: an open drug discovery approach. Lancet Microbe. 2022 May;3(5):e382-e391. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00326-8. Epub 2022 Apr 1.

Ponsford MJ, Ward TJC, Stoneham SM, Dallimore CM, Sham D, Osman K, Barry SM, Jolles S, Humphreys IR, Farewell D. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Inpatient Mortality Associated With Nosocomial and Community COVID-19 Exposes the Vulnerability of Immunosuppressed Adults. Front Immunol. 2021 Oct 6;12:744696. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.744696.

Price JR, Yokoyama M, Cole K, Sweetman J, Behar L, Stoneham S, Cantillon D, Waddell SJ, Hyde J, Alam R, Crook D, Paul J, Llewelyn MJ. Undetected carriage explains apparent Staphylococcus aureus acquisition in a non-outbreak healthcare setting. J Infect. 2021 Sep;83(3):332-338. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2021.07.016. Epub 2021 Jul 23.

Bak A, Mugglestone MA, Ratnaraja NV, Wilson JA, Rivett L, Stoneham SM, Bostock J, Moses SE, Price JR, Weinbren M, Loveday HP, Islam J, Wilson APR. SARS-CoV-2 routes of transmission and recommendations for preventing acquisition: joint British Infection Association (BIA), Healthcare Infection Society (HIS), Infection Prevention Society (IPS) and Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) guidance. J Hosp Infect. 2021 Aug;114:79-103. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2021.04.027. Epub 2021 May 1.

Stoneham SM, Cantillon DM, Waddell SJ, Llewelyn MJ. Spontaneously Occurring Small-Colony Variants of Staphylococcus aureus Show Enhanced Clearance by THP-1 Macrophages. Front Microbiol. 2020 Jun 12;11:1300. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01300.

Stoneham SM, Milne KM, Nuttall E, Frew GH, Sturrock BR, Sivaloganathan H, Ladikou EE, Drage S, Phillips B, Chevassut TJ, Eziefula AC. Thrombotic risk in COVID-19: a case series and case-control study. Clin Med (Lond). 2020 Jul;20(4):e76-e81. doi: 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0228. Epub 2020 May 18.

Stoneham S, Schilling W, San Francisco A, Llewelyn M. Twelve year analysis of aerobic-only blood cultures for routine detection of bacteraemia. J Hosp Infect. 2020 Apr;104(4):592-596. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2019.11.025. Epub 2019 Dec 3.

Jubrail J, Morris P, Bewley MA, Stoneham S, Johnston SA, Foster SJ, Peden AA, Read RC, Marriott HM, Dockrell DH. Inability to sustain intraphagolysosomal killing of Staphylococcus aureus predisposes to bacterial persistence in macrophages. Cell Microbiol. 2016 Jan;18(1):80-96. doi: 10.1111/cmi.12485. Epub 2015 Sep 2.