A Bachelor’s degree from the University of London was accompanied by special awards in Paediatrics and Pharmacology and membership of the Royal College of Physicians of the
Her post-doctoral thesis was based on the early bactericidal activity of tuberculosis drugs on the rate of reduction of the bacterial load in the sputum. This method is now applied in the evaluation of new drugs for tuberculosis.
More recently, while working with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease in Paris, an international trial conducted by her was, together with other evidence, instrumental in changes in the recommendations by the WHO for the standard treatment of tuberculosis in 2003.
In June 2003, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
On July 2nd, she has she was promoted to Professor of Tuberculosis Therapeutics.
In 2006, she established World Without TB as a civil society NGO to support research to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for the eradication of tuberculosis by 2050. This is now a registered charity in the United Kingdom.
In 2018, she was awarded the Muslim News Ibn Sina Award for Medicine.
In 2019 she was awarded the Princess Chichibu Memorial Global TB Prize by the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association.
In April, 2004, she joined St. George’s, University of London as Honorary Senior Lecturer where she established the International Consortium for Trials of Chemotherapeutic Agents in Tuberculosis, known as INTERTB. The principle objective of the Consortium is to evaluate increasing doses of rifampicin in reducing treatment duration for tuberculosis. During this time she conducted the RIFAQUIN Trial which showed that high dose rifapentine, together with moxifloxacin, given once weekly in the continuation phase is non-inferior to the WHO standard six-month regimen. This trial was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2014. The next trial, the RIFATOX Trial showed the doubling the dose of rifampicin showed no increase in hepatic adverse events. She is currently conducting the RIFASHORT Trial which has two four-month regimens using rifampicin at 1200mg and 1800mg daily.
The trials are conducted in countries of South America, Africa and Asia where there is a high burden of tuberculosis. She has received significant grants from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership. Her current trial is funded by the MRC’s Global Health Trials Scheme. In addition to conducting trials, she trains international doctors and technologists in order to build their capacity in Good Clinical Practice and the ethical points in experimenting on human subjects.
Professor Tom Harrison
Trial & Data Managers
Jack Adams
Dr Tulika Munshi
Dr Reyhaneh Sadegh Zadeh Institute for Infection and Immunity
International Collaborators
Dr. Eduardo Ticona, Hospital Dos de Mayo, Lima, Peru
Dr. Tefera Agizew, CDC Botswana, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
Jose Gaby Tshikuka, PhD, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
Dr Daniel Atwine, MSF- Epicentre, Mbarara, Uganda.
Prof Oumou Younoussa, Service de Pneumo-Phtisiologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ignace Deen, Conakry, République De Guinée
Prof Camara Mady, Service de Pneumo-Phtisiologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ignace Deen, Conakry, République De Guinée
Dr Boubacar Bar, Service de Pneumo-Phtisiologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ignace Deen, République De Guinée
Dr Bhabana Shrestha, GENETUP, Kalimati, Kathmandu, Nepal
Dra Marcela Muñoz Torrico Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Mexico City, Mexico
Dr Naseem Salahuddin, Indus Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
Saira Khowaja, Indus Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan
Professor Michael Barer, Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester (Persister Study Lead)
Trial Statisticians
Prof Katherine Fielding PhD, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Dr Daniel Grint PhD, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine