Georgina Ferry interviews Sir Peter Horby, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases, 6 December 2021.
Topics discussed include (00:00:45) PH's early training in medicine, interest in biology and infectious diseases; (00:02:38) PH's first job working on a HIV ward at Middlesex Hospital and later the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, work in Vietnam on SARS-1 in 2003 and in Hanoi for the World Health Organisation, work with Jeremy Farrar particularly with regards to opening the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases; (00:05:22) main threats for Vietnam, in terms of infectious disease outbreaks, work with Professor Liam, resurgence of H5N1 bird flu in 2003-4; (00:07:34) controls required to prevent transmission of prior infectious diseases, including SARS-1 and bird flu; (00:09:48) work in Singapore on infectious disease programme, return to the U.K. to Oxford in 2014 with the Epidemic Diseases Research Group, West Africa Ebola outbreak; (00:10:47) 2009 influenza pandemic; (00:12:57) International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium [ISARIC], clinical trials and treatments for Ebola; (00:16:28) first awareness of COVID-19, ProMED report of 30 December 2019, preparedness to research an emerging infectious disease, collaboration with Chinese colleagues, focus on patients in research, the first clinical description and clinical trials set up in Wuhan, China; (00:22:00) clinical trials for MERS run by colleague Yaseen Arabi and adaptation of therapeutic trials for COVID-19 including starting randomised control trials in China with drug lopinavir/ritonavir, first placebo controlled trial, remdesivir antiviral trial in China in February (00:27:57) grant application to the Medical Research Council for research to expand the clinical trial research programme in China; (00:29:07) RECOVERY trial and collaboration with Martin Landray on this study; (00:35:15) data linkage and data collection, National Institute for Health Research [NIHR]; (00:36:38) meeting with Chris Whitty [Chief Medical Officer] and Jonathan Van-Tam [Deputy Chief Medical Officer] on 10 March 2020 to request sign-off for the trial; (00:40:00) particular drugs trialled to treat patients in hospital with COVID; (00:41:36) the impact of the trial results on treatment guidelines and policy with both effective and ineffective drugs, particularly with hydroxychloroquine [ineffective] and dexamethasone, tocilizumab and Ronapreve [effective]; (00:50:14) clinical characterisation database; (00:53:40) New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group [NERVTAG], SAGE, and policy-making at government level; (00:56:27) Pandemic Sciences Centre, Oxford, meeting with Richard Cornall (Head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine) in relation to the centre, coordination of science across the University and bringing together expertise; (01:02:10) impact of mitigating regulations for pandemic on working arrangements, including working from home; (01:03:30) PH's personal response to the threat of COVID-19; (01:04:53) personal well-being during lockdown and finding purpose in work; (01:07:05) future research interests, including the benefits of immunomodulation; (01:09:14) investment in global health research; (01:12:53) international organising in terms of emerging infectious diseases, particularly investment in people, infrastructure and reacting at speed.
