Our researchers

Dr James Price

Clinical Lecturer, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

Dr James Price graduated in Medicine from St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London, in 2005. He undertook an Academic Foundation Programme in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology where he began his research in healthcare-associated infection. James was subsequently awarded a Walport NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship, during which he successfully completed a PhD in collaboration with UKCRC Modernising Medical Microbiology (MMM) Consortium based at the University of Oxford. His work included an evaluation of the utility of whole-genome sequencing to inform on Staphylococcus aureus infection in a healthcare setting. In 2014, James was appointed as a NIHR Clinical Lecturer, where he continues to develop his research in healthcare-associated S. aureus carriage and transmission.

James is currently an Infectious Diseases and Microbiology registrar in the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Deanery. He is also a member of the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Research Network at the Wellcome Trust Centre at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Through local and international collaborations, they aim to develop a research strategy to better understand AMR in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). With a particular interest in pathogen transmission, James hopes this collaboration will lead to studies to help understand the movement of AMR organisms, which in turn may help optimise infection prevention methods in LMICs.

Prof Martin Llewelyn

Reader in Infectious Diseases, Brighton and Sussex Medical School 

Prof Martin Llewelyn has worked at BSMS since 2004 and holds an honorary contract at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust as a Consultant in Infectious Diseases. He did his undergraduate medical training at the Royal London Hospital graduating in 1992. After Medical House-Officer and Senior House Officer posts in North East London he undertook higher specialist training in Infectious Diseases and General Internal Medicine in North Thames. He spent three years on an MRC-funded research training fellowship at Imperial College studying host immune responses to bacterial superantigen toxins. He obtained his CCT and PhD in 2004. Martin’s research is focused on the common, life-threatening infections, which affect patients in the NHS, in particular on healthcare associated and antibiotic resistant pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile. Major current themes of his research are application of microbial genome sequencing to the study of transmission and pathogenesis of S. aureus infection and reducing antibiotic usage in hospital through optimising treatment strategies. Martin’s research is undertaken in collaboration with groups such as Modernising Medical Microbiology, the International Staphylococcus Aureus Collaboration and the NIHR-funded Antibiotic Reduction and Conservation in Hospitals (ARK-Hospital) programme.

Dr Leena Al-Hassan

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Global Health and Infection

Since my undergraduate degree I have been very interested in infectious diseases and immunology.  My undergraduate supervisor approached me and asked if I would like to do a PhD in Medical and Molecular Microbiology. I started my PhD in 2010 and carried out field work in Egypt, collecting samples from hospitals. I am now researching antibiotic resistance. I look at two types of Gram-negative bacteria, Acintobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which are highly resistant to antibiotics and cause hospital acquired infections. I’m interested in the diversity and epidemiology (the distribution and possible control) of these bacteria within a hospital, within a country and also within different regions in Africa. I’m also investigating the genetics of resistance; bacteria exchange genetic information amongst themselves to assist each other to survive, so I’m looking at how this is exchanged and what they have acquired. Find a full interview with Leena here.