Institute: Sheffield University
Biography
I am an enthusiastic proponent of CHIM and their utility to investigate and answer clinically relevant questions. In parallel to performing the work for my DPhil in Oxford, I became interested in the ethical and regulatory aspects necessary to developing safe but clinically relevant human challenge models. My contributions to the field have included writing review articles, teaching on the subject and giving invited lectures to international audiences. I am currently involved in a collaboration which aims to prepare a WHO framework document on the use of the ethical use of Human Challenge studies, and have previously contributed at proceedings cited in WHO regulatory documents.
As an active adult infectious diseases clinician my contribution to HIC-VAC would be in ensuring the safety of challenge study participants while pushing to get the most meaningful and clinically relevant diseases and study endpoints. This is particularly relevant to establishing CHIM in vulnerable populations and in endemic settings, and I have had experience of these aspects while working in Vietnam. With my broad experience in enteric pathogens and complex study design I am also interested in advocating for optimising the data and samples collected from such studies to investigate host-pathogen interactions using a systems biology approach.
Key Publications
A list of key publications can be found here.
Web Links of Interest
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas_Darton
Design, recruitment, and microbiological considerations in human challenge studies