Georgina Ferry interviews Sarah Walker, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, 15 November 2021.
Topics discussed include (00:00:30) SW's studies in Medical Statistics and work in infectious diseases, HIV and bacterial infections; (00:02:44) SW's first awareness of COVID-19, work on a project in Vietnam and the implications of the disease for South East Asia; (00:05:01) the continuance of work during the lockdown period, including remote-working; (00:07:09) SW's initial reaction to COVID-19; (00:09:22) work with Professor Derrick Crook and Professor Tim Peto on Modernising Medical Microbiology; (00:10:40) seroprevalence study; (00:15:37) recruiting process for participants, in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics; (00:18:26) the pros and cons of measuring the pandemic through testing; (00:21:25) the evolution of the COVID-19 virus, including variants and mutations; (00:24:02) the continuation of the Office for National Statistics survey; (00:26:08) the level of protection afforded by the different vaccines and the challenges of asymptomatic infections; (00:29:25) reporting to Government on the ONS survey and influence on policy owing to this work; (00:30:32) involvement with Test and Trace; (00:32:39) public exposure relating to the publication of survey data each week; (00:34:10) SW's experience of media interviews; (00:35:36) viral load concept; (00:38:00) study focusing on healthcare workers and occupational infection data; (00:40:20) the path from scientific data to policy; (00:42:23) SW's personal experience of the pandemic and ability to work remotely; (00:43:52) hours of work during the pandemic; (00:44:40) SW's personal well-being and self-care; (00:45:50) well-being of the team; (00:48:15) future research interests, including the interplay between natural and acquired immunity and who is being hospitalised despite vaccination; (00:51:31) perspectives on balancing working from home and on-site and hopes for future changes to attitudes around this.
