Collecting COVID: Oral Histories: Recent Episodes
Oxford University
The Collecting COVID oral history project captures the University of Oxford's research response during an unprecedented time, revealing the professional and personal stories of a diverse range of individual researchers and teams. Since November 2021, science writer and broadcaster Georgina Ferry has interviewed researchers and support staff from across Oxford’s academic divisions, capturing the story of the pandemic, as seen through the eyes of those at the forefront of research conducted to tackle a global health emergency. The oral histories supplement the Bodleian Libraries' archival collection related to COVID-19 research, acquired under the Collecting COVID project, a collaboration between the Bodleian Libraries and the History of Science Museum funded by the E. P. A. Cephalosporin Fund.
This podcast series comprises the publicly accessible recordings from the oral history project.
Georgina Ferry interviews Trudie Lang, Professor of Global Health Research and Head of the Global Health Network, 13 April 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:20) early interest in science, degree in biochemistry, work in the pharmaceutical industry as a clinical trial monitor, work in Africa and a Surgical Eye Expedition project, running clinical trials in U.K. hospitals, malaria work with SmithKline Beecham, overseas programmes, part-time PhD, work at Oxford on vaccine programmes, Global Health Network and work in Kenya; (00:21:11) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:26:04) global perspective, involvement of the network; (00:37:10) competition in science, EU Horizon projects, collaborations; (00:43:48) UKRI-funded work relating to World Health Organisation blueprint; (00:47:41) obstacles to data sharing among countries during the pandemic; (00:50:51) lessons learned from the pandemic; (00:54:30) personal experience of COVID-19; (00:57:24) changes to work schedule, including remote working; (00:59:39) support for wellbeing, including student wellbeing; (01:01:12) role as Green Templeton College student advisor; (01:02:54) sense of purpose through work on COVID-19; (01:05:44) changes in attitude to career as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Siobhan Gardiner, Clinical Research Nurse, 11 April 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:18) early interest in nursing and studies at Cambridge, work in New Zealand and Australia, teaching at Thames Valley University, research nursing and work with the Dementias and Neurodegenerative Disease Research Network [DeNDRoN]; (00:04:31) dementia portfolio, including commercial studies; (00:06:58) primary role of the research nurse, including patient recruitment; (00:13:00) gastroenterology role; (00:14:00) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:18:30) nursing taskforce for COVID-19, involvement with the RECOVERY trial; (00:28:30) COVID patient recruitment for three studies [RECOVERY trial, Sepsis Immunomics, and ISARIC]; (00:37:30) PPE, work with A&E team; (00:39:57) patient schedules for studies; (00:43:07) morning huddle with team; (00:44:30) information gathering for ISARIC study; (00:45:52) leadership and teamwork; (00:50:16) grounded theory and use in research resulting from the pandemic; (00:51:00) interviews with colleagues and eventual article; (00:54:50) disbanding of the nursing taskforce, research governance role, creation of study protocol; (01:00:30) interviews with A&E team during winter 2020; (01:02:50) role within the immunology team; (01:04:36) current role, work in cardiology at the Acute Multidisciplinary Imaging and Intervention Centre; (01:05:44) personal experience of COVID-19; (01:08:17) working hours during the pandemic, delivering Novavax vaccine, Jansson trial; (01:10:16) support for wellbeing; (01:11:41) changes in attitude to career as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Sara Khalid, Associate Professor, 31 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:01:00) early interest in engineering science, studies in Pakistan, Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford and specialism in biomedical engineering; (00:02:15) Planetary Health research group; (00:05:55) incorporation of climate data in recent studies; (00:10:54) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:15:59) international collaborations, Observational Health Data Sciences Initiative consortia; (00:18:40) observational data relating to the COVID-19 pandemic; (00:23:01) personal experience of COVID-19, threat from infection; (00:24:57) study relating to inequities in healthcare; (00:26:23) changes to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews David Eyre, Professor of Infectious Diseases, 28 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:46) early interest in medicine, studies in Cambridge and clinical studies at Oxford, work in Oxford in the John Radcliffe and Horton Hospital, PhD in pathogen sequencing, specialist training, consultant in infection; (00:04:27) genomic sequencing; (00:07:37) place within the Big Data Institute for sequencing work, use of electronic healthcare data; (00:10:50) genome sequencing technology; (00:12:50) routine laboratories to undertake sequencing in hospitals; (00:14:22) first awareness of COVID-19, including visitors to Oxford from Wuhan, infection with COVID; (00:17:55) clinical deployment to COVID wards, running of ward as a consultant; (00:21:41) involvement in the area of diagnostics, including detection of antibodies, development of an antibody test, collaboration with colleagues at the Target Discovery Institute; (00:28:08) conclusions relating to work on antibody detection; (00:32:38) large-scale testing of healthcare workers in Oxford; (00:40:13) sequencing as a tool for tracking infection in hospital; (00:42:15) regular surveillance of other pathogens during the pandemic; (00:44:35) changes to working hours; (00:47:05) collaborative working; (00:51:52) wellbeing support; (00:55:46) future plans.
Georgina Ferry interviews Yi-Chun Wang, Research Scientist and PhD Student, 24 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:40) early interest in science, undergraduate studies in Taiwan and specialism in medical imaging and radiology science, master's in radiation biology at the University of Oxford, internship at Perspectum; (00:11:02) first awareness of COVID-19, visa extension; (00:15:54) internship role at Perspectum, CoverScan study; (00:18:49) location of MRI scanner; (00:20:05) inclusion of COVID patients in CoverScan study; (00:22:15) study team; (00:23:08) working hours; (00:25:32) anatomy covered by CoverScan; (00:25:56) organs covered by software; (00:28:07) remote meetings with colleagues; (00:29:13) intense period of study, end of CoverScan study in late 2021; (00:29:56) PhD applications, deferred PhD in engineering at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering; (00:34:46) thesis topic, data collection and analysis; (00:38:29) Bayesian networks; (00:40:09) time management; (00:41:43) COVID infection; (00:43:33) prejudices against Asians during the pandemic; (00:45:11) management of the pandemic in Taiwan; (00:48:25) living situation in Oxford; (00:50:58) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic; (00:51:59) direction of future career.
Georgina Ferry interviews Claas Kirchhelle, former Honorary Fellow in Vaccine History (Oxford Vaccine Group/Oxford Martin School), 22 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:48) early interest in history, studies in Munich, study of the environment and contemporary history, research into antibiotics, master's at the University of Chicago, post at Oxford and pivot to history of medicine; (00:02:39) long perspective, boundaries between policy and history, work at the Oxford Martin School; (00:04:55) research methods, including ethnographic methods, navigating archives sources, meaning making and sociological methods, witnesses to contemporary events and grey knowledge; (00:08:44) first awareness of COVID-19, including attendance at a typhoid conference in Dhaka, flu-like illness; (00:11:07) association with the Oxford Vaccine Group, role of historian to the group, work with Samantha Vanderslott, creation of oral history interviews in early 2021; (00:16:45) ethical clearance for oral history project; (00:18:48) enthusiasm within the group around the project; (00:20:46) interview lengths and number of sessions per interviewee; (00:21:51) collection of interviews, use of the interviews and future publication, contextual work, indexing and searchability; (00:25:02) emergent themes, interests developed out of this work; (00:27:16) policy commentary on the decision to sell the Vaccine Manufacturing Innovation Centre; (00:30:48) variety of people interviewed, breakthroughs in biomedical science in the 20th and 21st centuries and importance of the input of a range of skilled individuals and teams; (00:32:10) mission focus of the vaccine team, credit and focus on certain individuals within the media; (00:36:00) post at University College, Dublin; (00:37:03) main area of interest currently, including drug innovation and infectious disease control and surveillance; (00:38:45) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:39:53) working circumstances, including home life; (00:41:08) experience of working on the COVID vaccine, broadening of understanding of interests and links policy work; (00:43:01) policy work and advice; (00:45:07) framing of the COVID-19 pandemic by future historians; (00:47:49) preparedness for future pandemics; (00:50:08) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Elizabeth Stafford, Clinical Research Nurse Manager, 22 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:20) early interest in nursing, studies at the University of Reading, training as a midwife, work in acute urgent and intensive care, research and role at Oxford exploring hepatology; (00:02:59) role of a research nurse; (00:07:51) patient recruitment for research; (00:11:16) ethical issues around patient recruitment; (00:14:55) different types of research studies, including investigations of new drugs, devices, observational studies; (00:16:46) first awareness of COVID-19, including the pause of research activity, continuation of some research including delivery of drugs to patient's homes; (00:24:16) redeployment to the Gastroenterology Department at the Churchill Hospital; (00:31:25) return to the John Radcliffe Hospital to assist with research project delivery [the project in question is run by Dr Alex Mentzer collected blood samples from hospital staff to build up a data and sample bank]; (00:34:45) programme relating to T cell immune response [OPTIC]; (00:39:38) main conclusions from the study; (00:45:15) funding for the study; (00:51:00) response of academics to research nurse team; (00:52:56) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:57:25) working hours during the pandemic; (00:59:53) wellbeing as a result of work undertaken during the pandemic; (01:02:42) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Sam Foster, former Chief Nursing Officer (Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust), 22 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:31) early interest in nursing and healthcare, work in medical wards and intensive care units, interest in training and education, corporate roles; (00:02:11) management and leadership roles; (00:03:57) core Chief Nursing Officer role, role at Oxford; (00:10:00) work with Meghana Pandit relating to leading quality; (00:12:35) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:14:00) preparations at the hospital and mounting of a response; (00:15:22) NHS emergency preparedness response; (00:17:18) designated infectious diseases unit, operationalising Nightingale south-east; (00:24:57) intensive care work; (00:27:17) critical care capacity, proning teams; (00:33:10) intensive care shifts, impact on workforce; (00:35:00) burnout and PTSD amongst healthcare workers, measures implemented to support staff wellbeing; (00:40:27) participation in research around COVID-19, including trials taking place in intensive care; (00:42:35) delivery of first vaccines in late 2020 and early 2021, including setting up a vaccine hub; (00:46:56) media exposure; (00:50:40) personal threat from COVID-19, including doffing of PPE to work in COVID wards; (00:54:16) impact of the vaccine programme, vaccine mandates, anti-vaccination sentiments; (00:57:00) support of the executive, particularly relating to decision making processes; (00:58:16) lessons taken from a time of national emergency to be implemented in next role at the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Georgina Ferry interviews Mary Daly, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, 20 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:29) early interest in social work, degree studies in Ireland, master's in social sciences, research career; (00:01:50) research interests, including questions of wellbeing, analysis of the welfare state, concept of care; (00:03:30) main components of care, including activities of providing for other people's needs; (00:04:38) interaction between researchers and deliverers of care, including work with organisations, work with the European Union, Care Initiative; (00:08:04) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:09:50) pivot towards research into impact of COVID-19, including relating to care homes, information gathering, presentation to the Care Initiative; (00:14:27) inequalities that surfaced during the pandemic; (00:17:00) care for children, interest in families and inequalities reinforced by the welfare state; (00:21:49) policies around children and education enforced by high-income countries during the pandemic; (00:27:51) care home worker project; (00:32:45) evolution and structure of the care system; (00:35:25) funding by local councils; (00:37:00) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:39:13) changes to working conditions, including remote working; (00:40:19) changes to approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Sumali Bajaj, DPhil student (Department of Biology), 17 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:38) early interest in science, undergraduate studies in India, research projects, work at a government hospital in the biostats unit, consultancy for the Public Health Foundation of India, scholarship master's studies at Harvard University, role at Imperial College and work on HIV and Alzheimer's; (00:07:04) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:08:27) work on COVID-19 at Imperial; (00:14:23) move to Oxford to begin doctoral training programme in October 2020; (00:17:25) projects relating to COVID-19, work with Moritz Kraemer including project relating to the spread of the Alpha variant; (00:21:46) data collection on mobility and human behaviour; (00:22:44) paper relating to the spread of Delta in England; (00:25:25) modelling, associations and trends in statistics; (00:26:53) influence on policy at a national level; (00:28:00) additional PhD projects, including work on other diseases; (00:29:40) collaboration during the pandemic, importance of interdisciplinary work; (00:32:04) lessons learned through the pandemic, including sharing of ideas and knowledge; (00:33:17) focus of work for the future, including infectious diseases and neglected tropical diseases; (00:36:00) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:37:52) changes to work schedule, including remote working; (00:39:16) adopted routines during the pandemic, including cycling; (00:42:52) changes to future work as a result of the pandemic; (00:45:30) future postdoctoral positions and next stage in career, collaborative work with Moritz Kraemer, Cristl Donnelly and José Lorenzo.
Georgina Ferry interviews Andrew Brent, Consultant in Infectious Diseases & General Internal Medicine and Deputy Chief Medical Officer (Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust), 17 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:18) early interest in medicine, degree studies at Cambridge, clinical studies at Oxford, interest in working in the developing world and tropics, Fellowship working at the Wellcome Trust Oxford Centre with the Kenya Medical Research Institute, return to Oxford and clinical roles in infectious diseases and general medicine; (00:04:48) infectious diseases in a western context; (00:08:50) protocols for treating patients coming from endemic areas, PPE for healthcare workers; (00:10:32) first awareness of COVID-19, including management of suspected cases, communications with Public Health England, collaboration with the ambulance service and academic colleagues, departmental planning; (00:21:14) testing, including drive-by swab tests at the John Radcliffe Hospital, set-up of separate testing hub at the Churchill Hospital, testing in the community; (00:30:21) national teleconferences led by Keith Willett (Director for Acute Care to NHS England and is the Professor of Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery at the University of Oxford); (00:31:15) first case of COVID-19, preparation for the first peak of cases in March 2020, including teleconferences with doctors in Wuhan and Lombardy, COVID incident management group (set up by Katie Jeffery, Director of Infection Prevention and Control); (00:34:07) systems set up to detect transmission within the hospital, including COVID steering group; (00:37:08) reorganisation of the hospital, impact on elective work and staff; (00:40:06) work in infectious diseases, intensive care ward rounds, reorganisation of intensive care units into COVID and non-COVID, mortality in ICU; (00:51:27) autumn peak, including impact of the RECOVERY trial and treatment of patients with steroids, COVID Care at Home service; (00:57:10) long COVID clinic; (00:58:31) rollout of the vaccination programme and clinical presentation of patients thereafter, including those who had not been vaccinated; (01:01:52) testing of healthcare workers, including testing regime set up by Derrick Crook; (01:04:22) service pressures and impact of the pandemic on the healthcare workforce; (01:07:16) development of role and move into leadership positions in addition to clinical work; (01:10:22) quality improvement; (01:12:50) lessons from the pandemic, including role of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals.
Georgina Ferry interviews Xin Xu, Research Fellow at the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE) and Junior Research Fellow (Kellogg College), 15 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:40) undergraduate degree in China, interest in social sciences and higher education studies, DPhil at Oxford; (00:03:00) fundamental questions in higher education research; (00:05:15) influence of higher education research on policies; (00:06:46) education systems globally; (00:12:30) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:20:33) pivot towards research relating to the COVID-19 pandemic; (00:26:20) hybrid working; (00:28:32) changes to research, including cancellations of in-person research trips and training courses; (00:37:57) research project, including webinar series 'Global research in the Covid-19 pandemic'; (00:49:32) inequalities during the pandemic, including relating to women and care responsibilities; (00:51:58) ethical issues around researching during the COVID-19 pandemic; (00:57:47) personal threat from COVID-19; (01:01:25) future research interests; (01:06:37) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic; (01:08:35) decolonisation and research; (01:10:50) impact of the pandemic on career as a researcher.
Georgina Ferry interviews Kate Orkin, Associate Professor in Economics and Public Policy, 15 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:39) interest in economics, particularly in labour market and social protection policy, PhD at Oxford, work in Ethiopia, Fellowships at Cambridge and Princeton; (00:03:50) fieldwork, including in Western Kenya and work with NGO GiveDirectly; (00:10:48) first awareness of COVID-19, work relating to highlighting the issue of underinvestment in drugs and/or vaccines in developing countries, collaboration with the Jenner Institute and Adrian Hill and Stefan Dercon on this issue; (00:16:55) impact on work, including fieldwork owing to the pandemic; (00:18:18) impact of policy response on people in poor communities; (00:22:00) channels of communication with policymakers; (00:27:38) emergency budget and relief package in South Africa; (00:29:03) interventions to boost people's aspirations and increase self-efficacy; (00:33:27) cash transfer programme and additional research; (00:34:40) labour market research; (00:37:38) communication of governments and public messaging; (00:39:56) government support packages post-pandemic; (00:41:51) questions of interest for the future; (00:46:36) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:48:10) wellbeing as a result of research; (00:51:34) changes to approach to work as a result of the pandemic; (00:53:49) collaborations, including work with researchers in Cape Town and at Duke in North Carolina; (00:56:58) interventions of the World Bank; (00:58:32) hopes for future change, including in funding and foreign aid cuts.
Georgina Ferry interviews Daniel Prieto-Alhambra, Professor of Pharmaco- and Device Epidemiology, 14 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:37) early interest in science and medicine, PhD studies in Barcelona, visiting PhD student at Oxford, health data sciences (00:02:42) use of existing data (routinely collected data and electronic medical records) for research into musculoskeletal conditions, comparison to clinical trials for research, including advantages of this kind of data; (00:06:18) curation of data and databases; (00:09:57) number of patients represented in study, types of questions investigated; (00:14:52) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:18:12) pivot towards working on COVID, including virtual study involving colleagues across the globe with the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics community, writing protocols on various studies including a study relating to repurposing of drugs; (00:23:13) hydroxychloroquine study and overlap with RECOVERY trial; (00:26:38) prediction and classification; (00:28:05) information flow between researchers and government; (00:29:48) work relating to candidate vaccines; (00:39:05) blood clotting; (00:41:24) Guillain-Barré syndrome, encephalomyelitis, and Bell’s palsy analysis; (00:46:00) long COVID; (00:52:06) current work relating to COVID; (00:53:05) predicting cancer, utilising artificial intelligence to classify cancer; (00:55:23) collaboration and competition during the pandemic; (00:56:16) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:58:00) remote working; (00:59:33) consideration of a return to clinical practice; (01:01:34) changes to working hours during the pandemic; (01:02:42) wellbeing during the pandemic; (01:03:44) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Rajarshi Banerjee, CEO Perspectum and former student of Oxford Medical School, 14 March 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:08) early interest in science, entry into medical school at Oxford, interest in research, registrar training programme in cardiology and internal medicine, British Heart Foundation funding for a PhD; (00:04:21) PhD studies at Oxford on cardiac MRI (to discover whether people with excess bodyweight accumulated fat in their heart muscle and whether that fat impaired its function); (00:06:12) biomedical engineering; (00:07:34) quality of MRI imaging in 2008; (00:09:44) interest in improving MRI imaging; (00:14:01) liver disease research; (00:17:00) formation of company and founding of Perspectum in 2012, work with Sir Michael Brady, Matt Robson and Stefan Neubauer; (00:20:05) company progress; (00:25:22) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:29:59) multi-organ involvement and role of Perspectum; (00:33:23) CoverScan, including collaborators, long COVID; (00:43:39) adoption of the technology clinically, scan findings; (00:50:44) MRI units using CoverScan; (00:51:25) pivot towards this work during the pandemic and impact on the company; (00:54:28) community diagnostic centre; (01:01:52) current patient throughput, including patients with long COVID; (01:05:54) organs CoverScan investigates; (01:07:54) signs CoverScan investigates in organs; (01:10:19) expense of CoverScan and comparison to separate scans; (01:12:22) NICE; (01:14:35) patient groups; (01:18:13) personal threat from COVID-19; (01:20:38) sense of wellbeing whilst working during the pandemic; (01:22:19) changes in attitude to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Tony Brett, Director of Medical Sciences Division IT Services, 28 February 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:23) early interest in science, degree in chemistry at Oxford, interest in IT and computers and work at Oxford at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, roles at Corpus Christi and OUCS; (00:05:09) challenges in supporting academics; (00:07:11) scope of IT services across the university, demands on services as research becomes more data focused; (00:08:55) data centres; (00:12:18) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:14:05) impact on the Medical Sciences Division, including providing hardware and support to people working remotely, relationship with National Cyber Security Centre; (00:17:30) Early Alert Service; (00:23:10) big data studies; (00:23:45) investigating new technologies; (00:25:43) recruitment during the pandemic; (00:27:27) collaboration across departments; (00:28:45) interactions with IT teams in other universities; (00:30:31) success of the Early Alert Service; (00:33:15) current work; (00:36:05) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:37:35) changes to working hours, wellbeing; (00:40:22) social distancing regulations and impact on the MSD IT team; (00:43:01) lessons from the pandemic, including a paperless office; (00:46:01) Oxford transport, including cycling safety; (00:50:00) reflections on the pandemic; (00:51:17) changes to work perspective as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Sheetal Silal, Associate Professor (Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Cape Town) and Honorary Visiting Research Fellow in Tropical Disease Modelling (Nuffield Department of Medicine), 28 February 2023. Topics discussed include (00:01:18) early interest in mathematics, database evidence making in health; (00:03:24) global health problem of malaria; (00:04:47) contribution of data science in combating and eliminating malaria; (00:07:13) global collaborations, including with colleagues at the University of Oxford and South America; (00:08:47) first awareness of COVID-19, involvement in the response; (00:11:45) model building during the pandemic; (00:16:18) government policy decisions based on modelling; (00:18:40) evolution of the pandemic in South Africa; (00:22:50) mortality rate and hospital capacity in South Africa; (00:25:35) projections and analyses of new variants; (00:30:31) compliance to public health regulations in South Africa; (00:37:10) CoMo Consortium; (00:38:12) shift of focus since COVID-19 on a variety of diseases, including hepatitis A; (00:40:34) teaching at Oxford, module lead on course Malaria Modelling for Strategy Design; (00:42:40) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:44:10) wellbeing of friends, family and colleagues; (00:49:01) working hours during the pandemic; (00:54:33) therapy and personal coping mechanisms; (00:56:00) personal reflections from the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Ane Ogbe, former Senior Immunologist (Frater Lab) and Group Leader (Evox Therapeutics), 23 Febrauary 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:48) early interest in science, studies in biomedical sciences, master's in molecular medicine with cancer research at Brunel University; (00:07:13) main arms of the immune system, difference between T cells and B cells; (00:12:57) move to Oxford working at the Nuffield Department of Medicine Research Building, pivot toward working on HIV; (00:19:04) move to Professor John Frater's laboratory, continued work on HIV; (00:24:47) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:28:45) understanding the immunology of COVID-19, including characterisation of immune response in healthcare worker cohort; (00:36:32) characterisation of vaccine immune responses, comparison of mRNA and adenoviral vectored vaccines; (00:37:49) sub-study relating to HIV vaccines, management of COVID-19 in HIV-infected people; (00:40:50) involvement in sample collection; (00:42:29) first paper on T cells in early 2020, research on cross-reactive responses; (00:48:20) collaboration during the pandemic; (00:50:55) leaving Oxford; (00:54:36) mentorship programme with the British Society for Immunology (BSI); (00:56:23) new opportunities, including in the biotechnology industry; (01:04:34) personal threat from COVID-19; (01:08:12) changes to working hours during the pandemic; (01:10:22) wellbeing support; (01:15:00) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Nicole Zitzmann, Professor of Virology and Principal Investigator (Department of Biochemistry), 22 February 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:31) studies in Germany, including study of Biology in Bonn, studies in English, biochemistry student in Dundee, Masters and PhD under supervisor Professor Mike Ferguson, move to Oxford in 1997 working at the Glycobiology Institute, mentorship of Barry Blumberg, iminosugars; (00:08:55) drugs targeting whole-cell process; (00:11:10) viruses worked on; (00:21:05) host-targeting drug side effects; (00:23:40) role of vaccines and drugs in tackling viruses; (00:27:22) first awareness of COVID-19, pivoting of work towards COVID-19, Sir William Dunn School containment level 3 laboratory; (00:33:32) screening of repurposed drugs; (00:45:00) SARS Tracker screening, Moonshot compounds; (00:46:35) research on iminosugars; (00:49:05) clinical trial obstacles; (00:50:50) funders and regulatory bodies; (00:54:10) Gaucher disease; (00:57:05) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:59:56) changes to work life during the pandemic, including remote working, Vaccine Identity Evaluation (VIE) project; (01:06:10) changes to working hours, group collaboration, achievement and mental wellbeing; (01:09:15) collaborations during the pandemic; (01:11:41) advantages of remote working; (01:14:34) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Chia Chen (Jane) Hsu, Chief Operating Officer (SimCell) and former postdoctoral researcher (Institute of Biomedical Engineering), 20 February 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:40) early interest in science and engineering, studies in biomedical engineering, synthetic biology, PhD studies at Imperial College London, postdoctoral project at Oxford; (00:06:25) neuro engineering project at Oxford; (00:09:55) work in Professor Zhanfeng Cui's group and collaboration with Chinese Institutes including the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Partnership Research Institute, IMPACT project; (00:16:06) first awareness of COVID-19, including conference in Jiangsu; (00:17:37) pivoting of work of group towards COVID-19, emerging research group; (00:22:44) LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification); (00:27:36) proof of principle, including use of synthetic DNA fragments and synthetic RNA; (00:30:35) performance of the nucleic acid test; (00:31:20) commercial partners, including formation of Oxsed; (00:34:29) use of tests, including at airports, training of airport staff; (00:38:46) pivoting of role away from postdoc position to join Oxsed; (00:40:39) product development tasks and challenges, including product development for other respiratory diseases; (00:43:45) current position at SimCell; (00:47:43) personal threat from COVID-19, use of PPE; (00:51:49) personal wellbeing and support; (00:54:14) positive changes to working as a result of the pandemic; (00:55:42) professional collaborations during the pandemic; (00:57:57) changes in approach to work, hopes for changes in the future.
Georgina Ferry interviews Chris Price, Divisional Registrar and Chief Operating Officer for Medical Sciences, 8 February 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:34) work at the University of Oxford since 1993, sociology degree, work with Sir Richard Peto and Sir Rory Collins in the Clinical Trial Service Unit ; (00:01:52) interest in medical sciences, work in professional services roles; (00:03:40) scale of Medical Sciences Division; (00:05:06) scope of role as Registrar; (00:06:31) working with clinicians and medical colleagues; (00:08:06) challenging and rewarding projects worked on up to 2019; (00:12:52) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:17:07) coordination of the scientific community at Oxford, led by Richard Cornall and daily meetings, creation of group led by senior scientists; (00:21:55) movement of the Medical Sciences Divisional Office and closure; (00:26:31) COVID-19 response fundraising; (00:30:34) main challenges in supporting scientists; (00:37:46) University response; (00:42:45) supply issues within the NHS, including access to PPE and swabs; (00:48:18) setting up in-house PCR testing service for university staff and students; (00:53:50) involvement in lateral flow device testing across the university; (00:58:45) percentage of researchers in the division working on COVID-19, other staff in the division and remote working; (01:03:02) staff wellbeing and support; (01:07:08) personal threat from COVID-19; (01:12:27) university-wide collaborations, ability to work together as a result of the pandemic and changes as a result of this; (01:21:58) lasting legacies, including Pandemic Sciences Institute; (01:26:21) changes in approach to work, as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Brian Marsden, Associate Professor for Data Management and Research Informatics, 3 February 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:46) early interest in science, degree studies at Cambridge, DPhil at Oxford in Biochemistry, work at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego and BioFocus; (00:02:29) computational chemistry; (00:07:35) Structural Genomics Consortium; (00:18:34) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:19:56) ELISA assay development for surveillance, including development of database and web platform; (00:26:59) COMBAT project; (00:35:00) collaboration between institutions during the pandemic; (00:36:10) current projects, including collaboration on early stage drug discovery; (00:37:00) impact of the pandemic on work life; (00:38:34) wellbeing support; (00:39:11) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:40:05) communications with civil servants; (00:41:10) wellbeing and working on COVID-19 projects; (00:43:37) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic, hopes for the future.
Georgina Ferry interviews Omar El Muhanna, Senior Operations Manager (Clinical BioManufacturing Facility), 2 February 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:39) studies in Engineering, Executive MBA from Northwestern University, work in retail, construction, particularly on projects in the Middle East, involvement in the humanitarian response to the civil war in Syria, humanitarian aid including moving resources and people; (00:07:03) move to Oxford in November 2019, work with Cath Green at the Clinical BioManufacturing Facility (CBF) from January 2020; (00:13:20) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:14:45) meeting with Cath Green and Sarah Gilbert in January 2020; (00:18:15) first steps taken to change operations to pivot towards a focus on COVID-19, including early discussions with the Senior Qualified Person, Dr Eleanor Berrie and Dr Richard Tarrant; (00:24:55) work on business continuity, emergency preparation and disaster recovery plans; (00:32:24) opportunity to implement knowledge in the context of a serious emergency response; (00:34:50) challenges faced when implementing the programme; (00:39:45) issues around shipments in March 2020; (00:44:39) charter plane hire to ship vaccine material to Italy; (00:53:58) interactions with AstraZeneca; (01:00:43) finalising of the manufacturing work undertaken at the CBF and shift of priorities and workload; (01:09:20) work started after COVID phase, including a pivot back towards work on Ebola, process of manufacturing expansion; (01:11:20) position of the CBF under the Pandemic Sciences Institute, including capacity expansion to work on multiple projects; (01:12:50) long-term value proposition of the CBF, including expansion and restructuring of team; (01:17:16) changes in approach to work and hopes for the future.
Georgina Ferry interviews Alex Mentzer, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer, 25 January 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:40) early interest in medicine, travels abroad in Nigeria, studies in Biochemistry at Imperial College London, Masters in Molecular Medicine, medical school at University College London, work at the Royal Free Hospital, London Infectious Diseases Department, research and training opportunities, including PhD at Oxford under supervisor Adrian Hill; (00:07:40) diseases studied whilst in Uganda; (00:09:40) career steps after DPhil, including Academic Clinical Lectureship at Oxford; (00:11:38) first awareness of COVID-19, collaboration with Julian Knight to collect samples from potential COVID-19 patients in hospital and the community; (00:22:31) main research questions addressed by collecting blood samples; (00:27:14) number of individuals enrolled in the research, clinical data captured; (00:32:11) work relating to virus variants; (00:33:39) use of serum in neutralisation assays against variants; (00:35:10) continuing work on COVID-19; (00:37:14) proportion of the population susceptible to the virus, including role of HLA (human leukocyte antigens); (00:40:19) international collaborations developed through the pandemic; (00:45:11) importance of treating patients with serious infections; (00:47:23) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:51:30) changes to working hours and daily routine; (00:53:55) wellbeing support during the pandemic; (00:58:30) early sampling participant involvement; (01:05:27) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic and hopes for the future.
Georgina Ferry interviews Lennard Lee, Academic Clinical Lecturer and Medical Oncologist, 19 January 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:49) early interest in medicine, studies at Cambridge, PhD at the Wellcome Trust in Oxford; (00:03:28) Junior group leader in Birmingham and training as a cancer doctor; (00:05:32) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:07:16) impact of the pandemic on cancer patients in Birmingham; (00:12:18) UK COVID Cancer Programme, work with Gary Middleton; (00:16:55) data results generated from the programme, publication of paper in the Lancet; (00:18:35) return to Oxford at the end of 2020; (00:20:51) lateral flow moonshot, work with Derrick Crook, Tim Peto and Sir John Bell, setting up diagnostic study; (00:31:49) work at the Department of Health on scale-up of lateral flow test programme; (00:34:49) reporting of results; (00:38:07) continuing interest in chemotherapy patients who were unprotected by vaccination; (00:40:15) The Forgotten 500K; (00:41:58) listening to and supporting the vulnerable, providing them with information, enabling them to exert their voice; (00:43:48) the risk to immunocompromised individuals; (00:47:07) influence on policy; (00:48:55) participation in Independent SAGE; (00:53:03) personal voice and use of Twitter to communicate information to the general public; (00:54:33) training in communication; (00:56:31) current priorities and area of work, including the development of a cancer vaccine; (00:59:17) personalised vaccines for cancer; (01:00:00) work ongoing at Oxford, including collaboration nationally; (01:01:50) personal threat from COVID-19; (01:03:20) redeployment to A&E (01:05:09) personal and family experience of COVID-19 infection; (01:08:34) personal wellbeing derived from work undertaken during the pandemic; (01:09:34) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Helen Salisbury, GP and Senior Medical Education Fellow, 19 January 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:40) early interest in medicine, neurology, general practice; (00:03:18) involvement in teaching at Oxford, including communications skills course for medical students; (00:08:30) activity and engagement on Twitter, standing for parliament; (00:09:43) columnist at the British Medical Journal and Take a Break magazine; (00:13:58) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:17:08) changes to seeing patients in-person at the practice, buzzer system and telephone triage; (00:19:31) communication and messaging, including missteps on definitions of symptoms defining COVID-19, herd immunity; (00:24:57) lack of testing at the start of the pandemic; (00:29:55) infrastructure issues; (00:33:45) Independent SAGE; (00:38:50) vaccine volunteer; (00:40:35) campaign by GP surgeries around vaccine drive; (00:46:00) PPE procurement during the pandemic, including government VIP lanes; (00:50:49) changes to seeing patients in-person again, including remote consulting; (00:56:42) colleague response to media profile; (01:01:49) personal threat from COVID-19; (01:03:43) impact on ability to work, as a result of the pandemic; (01:05:16) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic and hopes for the future.
Georgina Ferry interviews Neelika Malavige, Academic Visitor and Professor (University of Sri Jayewardenepura), 18 January 2023. Topics discussed include (00:01:02) early interest in science, particularly biology, medical school and research work, PhD at Oxford working under the supervision of Graham Ogg at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Immunology; (00:03:40) interest and work on dengue fever in Sri Lanka; (00:09:29) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:12:37) impact of COVID-19 on Sri Lanka; (00:15:55) PCR testing at University of Sri Jayewardenepura laboratory, including virus sequencing; (00:20:16) work on antibodies for COVID-19, PCR testing and Sri Lanka's zero COVID policy; (00:25:13) work of Tao Dong and Graham Ogg on T-cells, collaboration of the groups at Oxford; (00:30:00) collaboration with Alain Townsend's group, work on a community-based serosurvey; (00:33:00) immunogenicity studies for Covovax; (00:34:30) immunogenicity studies for various vaccines; (00:40:00) comparison of different vaccines; (00:42:17) coverage of vaccination in population; (00:45:44) impact on dengue work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; (00:51:50) dengue vaccine developed by Takeda; (00:54:22) severe dengue in pregnant women and in people with comorbidities, work with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative; (00:57:56) international collaboration as a result of the pandemic; (01:00:46) impact of the pandemic and zero COVID policy on personal and work life; (01:06:36) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic and hopes for the future.
Georgina Ferry interviews Edward O'Neill, Postdoctoral Researcher (Department of Oncology) and vaccine volunteer, 12 January 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) early interest in science, PhD studies in chemistry at the University of Sydney, undergraduate studies and government work in Australia, interest in immunology; (00:05:13) current interest and work at Oxford, including an injected targeted therapy for tumours; (00:06:45) first awareness of COVID-19, changes to work including remote working, life under lockdown conditions; (00:14:25) Oxford vaccine trial involvement; (00:21:17) eligibility criteria to participate for the vaccine trial; (00:23:18) receiving the first trial dose on 23rd April 2020, including health screening, media involvement; (00:37:41) hoax stories and disinformation around the trial, interviews with U.K. and Australian media; (00:45:31) work of the Jenner vaccine team; (00:46:21) interest in vaccine development; (00:48:24) media interviews, social media use; (00:54:22) follow-up procedure after receiving the vaccine, including unblinding stage; (01:05:20) volunteering for future clinical trials; (01:10:07) disinformation and vaccine hesitancy; (01:15:14) return to work, uncertainty around funding and status, lasting legacy of COVID-19 vaccines. Note: the following sections of audio are redacted (00:23:46) to (00:23:50); (00:34:53) to (00:35:00).
Georgina Ferry interviews Emma Flint, former medical student (Oxford Medical School), 5 January 2023. Topics discussed include (00:00:50) early interest in medicine, medical studies at university level, voluntary work; (00:04:54) choosing to study at Oxford; (00:06:32) experience of being a medical student at Oxford; (00:07:58) research project on endometriosis; (00:09:25) interest in research in future career; (00:11:43) voluntary experience with the ambulance service as a student first responder; (00:15:20) Spring 2020 and planning for the elective period overseas; (00:21:42) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:25:07) voluntary roles medical students took on during the early stages of the pandemic, including A&E work; (00:32:18) breaks during shifts, working with other student volunteers; (00:34:47) early graduation and work as interim foundation doctor from May 2020; (00:39:42) memorable cases; (00:42:46) patients at end-of-life in A&E (00:44:39) PPE provisions at the start of the pandemic; (00:51:00) first placement as a foundation doctor; (00:55:16) work as a foundation doctor in intensive care, changes in COVID-19 cases; (00:57:34) experience as a new medical graduate over the pandemic, including disruption of education, experience of training in a pandemic setting, lack of opportunities for new trainees, supervision and career development; (01:03:33) morale of junior doctors; (01:06:40) personal threat from COVID-19, living arrangements during the pandemic under lockdown conditions, symptoms of respiratory illness in summer 2020; (01:10:43) wellbeing as a result of voluntary work and interim foundation doctor role; (01:12:26) changes in attitude and approach to work as a result of the pandemic, including a movement towards a specialism in psychiatry and the importance of mental health. Note: the following sections of audio are redacted owing to interruption (00:17:55) to (00:19:36) and (01:16:57) to (01:18:41).
Georgina Ferry interviews Stanley Ulijaszek, Professor of Human Ecology, 15 December 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:39) early interest in science, particularly public health nutrition and nutritional ecology, work in Papua New Guinea, work at the University of Cambridge as a nutritional anthropologist, writings with Simon Strickland; (00:02:28) work with seminal figures in Papua New Guinea; (00:03:17) work on obesity, particularly relating to different pathways to obesity; (00:05:57) elements of the pathways to obesity of interest, work with Foresight obesity think tank; (00:08:19) factors triggering obesity; (00:12:25) methodology and data collection in anthropology; (00:17:21) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:21:27) research question arising out of the pandemic lockdown; (00:23:24) design of the study; (00:24:35) sample representativeness; (00:26:28) key questions asked in the survey, particularly in relation to physical and mental health; (00:31:59) recommendations made to support public health, as a result of the study; (00:37:18) data collection on body weight, including national food strategy; (00:42:30) questionnaire narrative section; (00:43:38) publications as a result of study, ability to give evidence to House of Lords committee, vaccine hesitancy, economic insecurity for young people; (00:47:58) involvement with podcast series with St Cross College; (00:49:16) podcast series 'Lockdown Food'; (00:52:20) preparedness for a future pandemic; (00:58:28) multidisciplinary approaches to tackling public health issues, particularly obesity, including social approaches to medicine.
Georgina Ferry interviews Thomas Kirk, Former DPhil student (Biomedical Engineering), conducted by Georgina Ferry, 6 December 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:40) early interest in engineering, teaching experience, studies at Oxford and influence of Michael Chappell; (00:03:20) PhD subject, including working with new types of MRI to investigate the function of the brain; (00:04:59) Variational Bayesian approaches; (00:08:23) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:11:54) OxVent, work of Robert Staruch and Andrew Farmery on prototype ventilator; (00:15:04) advantages of OxVent ventilator, work of Harrison Steel on control and electronics; (00:17:32) TK's personal involvement with the OxVent project, inclusion of other PhD students including Andrew Orr; (00:20:40) use of the prototype ventilator on patients; (00:21:51) delivery of oxygen via ventilation to patients unable to breathe for themselves; (00:25:55) the U.K. Government's Ventilator Challenge; (00:30:52) pairing with Smith & Nephew and King's College London to work on the ventilator design and manufacture, including TK's new role as Systems Integration Lead; (00:36:22) work of Chantal Edwards as Project Manager, including activation of Civilian Air Corps; (00:41:00) visit to Hull and Smith & Nephew to work collaboratively on the design; (00:46:26) control software on the device, work of Oxford team on software writing, work of Paul Goulart and Michael Garstka; (00:52:50) volunteers working on the design and manufacture at Smith & Nephew; (00:55:17) project pressure, working conditions and hours, news relating to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson's infection with COVID-19; (00:58:50) coordination of the Ventilator Challenge, including issues around politics; (01:02:10) ventilator components and work with overseas suppliers; (01:05:58) the number of ventilators required during the first wave of COVID-19; (01:08:07) issues around acquiring components, particularly NIST hoses, correspondence with the Cabinet Office; (01:12:57) change of requirements by the government, impact of this on team morale, ending of the Ventilator Challenge project; (01:22:30) requirement for ventilators in hospitals; (01:24:46) OxVent social enterprise, plans for the future; (01:26:35) return to Oxford from Hull, including the first national lockdown, experience on mental health and outlook; (01:29:30) work on second COVID-19 project 'VaxiMap' with Robert Staruch; (01:42:45) involvement of Adam Barker, creation of prototype website relating to allocation of spare vaccine doses; (01:46:00) recognition and awards for OxVent project; (01:46:35) correspondence with the NHS relating to VaxiMap project, issues around funding; (01:50:00) data privacy and security; (01:52:15) funding for the project by the U.K. Army and Ministry of Defence; (01:55:20) current work with Michael Chappell on spin-out medical imaging company 'Quantified Imaging'; (02:04:23) response to the threat of COVID-19 infection; (02:08:11) key lessons for the future, both in terms of personal life and career. Note: the following sections of audio are redacted (00:20:54) to (00:20:58).
Georgina Ferry interviews Sile Johnson, former medical student (Oxford Medical School), 15 December 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:12) early interest in medicine and science, studies in Ireland and Masters and PhD in Scotland, accelerated course at Oxford; (00:01:42) entry into clinical practice; (00:02:31) experience at Oxford as a medical student, role as Junior Dean; (00:03:22) interests in sports, including hockey, rugby and Gaelic football; (00:04:15) inequality in access to medical education, including STEP inTO OxMed; (00:10:27) first awareness of COVID-19, including closure of the medical school and impact on studies; (00:14:43) remote lectures and exams, bedside clinical teaching; (00:16:25) call out for volunteer medical students, emergency department assignment; (00:21:58) shift lengths and duration of time as a volunteer; (00:22:46) opportunities that arose after voluntary work, including work with Donal Skelly on taking blood samples from COVID patients to create a profile of how the body responds to COVID [Oxford Protective T cell Immunology for COVID-19, 'OPTIC' trial]; (00:26:19) role within the OPTIC project; (00:28:52) vision for career and future, importance of communication and listening to patients in clinical practice; (00:32:59) medical specialisms of interest for the future; (00:34:03) personal experience of lockdown, including living arrangements, college responsibilities and work with the Oxford Hub; (00:41:20) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:42:35) affect of the pandemic on family; (00:45:05) changes in attitude and approach to career as a result of the pandemic; (00:46:26) hopes for the future and for changes to the medical profession, including staff shortages and treatment.
Georgina Ferry interviews Cristian Roman, Postdoctoral Research Associate, 14 December 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:20) early interest in engineering, studies in France, the U.S.A. and U.K. at Oxford Brookes University, specialism in computer science and telecommunications, scholarship and PhD (00:04:54) move into digital health technologies and work on diabetes project; (00:07:30) outlook on digital health research globally; (00:09:12) joining Lionel Tarassenko's Biomedical Signal Processing & Machine Learning group in 2018; (00:11:51) remote monitoring project with blood pressure monitoring in stroke patients; (00:17:10) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:18:40) vHDU (virtual High-Dependency Unit) project on monitoring vital signs with wearable devices; (00:25:10) wearable devices; (00:30:47) the challenges of setting up the system over a three week time period; (00:34:00) first COVID patient; (00:34:52) communication with nurses from the Critical Care Research Group; (00:36:30) selection of patients to go on the system; (00:37:58) publications and evaluation of the system, including nurse interviews by Sarah Vollam and Peter Watkinson of the Critical Care Research Group; (00:40:00) current use of the system; (00:45:51) remote monitoring of blood pressure in pregnancy and postpartum, including work of Richard McManus and Lucy MacKillop on BUMP and POP-HT trials; (00:46:17) work with commercial company Sensyne Health; (00:48:13) usefulness of remote monitoring; (00:50:17) achievements and impact of work; (00:51:46) current projects; (00:53:30) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:58:02) impact of the project on wellbeing, collaborative work with Mauro Santos and Marco Pimentel; (01:02:40) changes in attitude to the future as a result of the pandemic, new technologies and robotics in healthcare.
Georgina Ferry interviews Andrew Kwok, Former PhD student (Functional Genomics in Sepsis), 3 December 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:40) early interest in science and immunology, particularly acute situations; (00:02:45) work with Julian Knight's lab on sepsis; (00:04:47) particular components of the immune system studied; (00:06:52) lymphoid and myeloid lineages; (00:10:46) patient recruitment for blood atlas study; (00:12:14) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:15:22) COMBAT consortium [COVID-19 Multi-Omic Blood ATlas]; (00:19:22) set-up of the consortium; (00:21:14) AK's role and involvement in the project; (00:23:01) data analysis; (00:25:46) key findings from the study; (00:29:50) blood atlas study and its impact on the world of research and drug development; (00:34:15) DPhil thesis; (00:34:40) completion of the COVID-19 project; (00:36:03) opportunities afforded by the pandemic to work on the COVID-19 project; (00:37:01) personal experiences during the pandemic and impact on work and home life; (00:41:15) current position at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, including research and clinical work; (00:42:18) switch in focus to neuroscience; (00:43:38) paper in Science on work led by Eddie Cano-Gamez relating to predicting outcomes in sepsis from using data collected during COMBAT; (00:49:09) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Janelle Winters, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Faculty of History), 2 December 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:23) early interest in population health, including bachelor's in history of science and biology, master's in epidemiology, teaching experience in Bangladesh, master's at University of Newcastle in history of medicine, PhD studies, work at the National Academy of Sciences and Medicine in Washington DC, and work at the University of Oxford as the COPCOV trial historian; (00:04:55) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:08:05) origin of the role of COPCOV historian, involvement of Nick White, William Schilling and Mark Harrison; (00:11:43) background of the COPCOV trial; (00:14:46) design of the COPCOV trial; (00:16:09) recruitment of healthcare workers for the trial; (00:21:00) impact on the trial owing to the profile owing to the politics around the drug hydroxychloroquine; (00:26:25) results of the RECOVERY trial and findings relating to hydroxychloroquine; (00:28:00) World Health Organisation guidance in March 2021; (00:30:10) global impact of decisions made by organisations such as the MHRA, including issues of transparency; (00:32:19) travel to Thailand to sit on the COPCOV investigator's meeting; (00:34:47) 'vampire research' and use of samples, material transfer agreements; (00:38:31) major research questions as a result of the trial; (00:41:04) methods for collecting information and research, including Freedom of Information requests and oral histories, interviews with stakeholders; (00:48:53) issues with sources and themes in contemporary history, creation of archives including oral histories, news sources, advisory groups; (00:51:42) study of the clinical trial as an object, including issues of bureaucracy and risk aversion; (00:55:59) impact of COVID-19 on career, particularly relating to opportunities in global health and pandemic preparedness; (00:58:15) personal impact of COVID-19, including life in Washington DC in March 2020, impact on family; (01:02:58) personal threat from COVID-19; (01:05:10) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic, including issues around early career roles and women in STEM.
Georgina Ferry interviews Emma Bolam, Head of Production (Clinical BioManufacturing Facility), 24 November 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) early interest in science, interest in natural history, studies at Oxford Brookes University, NHS work as a laboratory assistant, Therapeutic Antibody Centre and work as a production technician as part of the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, and later takeover by a team from the Jenner Institute to work on the manufacture of viral vector vaccines; (00:04:37) professional learning and development through career, work in laboratories and eventual progression as Head of Production; (00:06:50) vaccine projects at the Clinical BioManufacturing Facility [CBF]; (00:09:40) work in 2019 on an Ebola vaccine; (00:10:49) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:11:47) involvement in the planning for work on COVID-19, including postponement of the Ebola vaccine manufacture; (00:13:22) work to begin the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccine; (00:16:00) safety procedures implemented onsite; (00:16:49) atmosphere during this time amongst the team and those working to manufacture the vaccine; (00:17:55) communications with Phase II trial manufacturer Advent; (00:18:40) ability to slow down work after the first clinical trials in April 2020, involvement of AstraZeneca; (00:19:40) resuming of Ebola vaccine project; (00:20:16) unusual nature of the Clinical BioManufacturing Facility in an academic setting; (00:20:50) viral vectors used for vaccines; (00:21:45) press exposure and scrutiny during the pandemic, including interviews in Welsh and for Welsh media; (00:24:06) collaborative nature of the work on the COVID-19 vaccine, involvement of Professors Sarah Gilbert and Teresa Lambe in designing the vaccine; (00:25:30) benefits of collaboration for future work with other groups; (00:27:13) personal response to the threat of infection by COVID-19; (00:29:07) impact of the work on personal mental wellbeing and that of the team at the CBF; (00:31:21) sense of satisfaction from working on a high quality and safe vaccine during the pandemic, including donations of food and support from the community; (00:32:40) the nature of the team at the CBF; (00:34:11) changes in approach as a result of the pandemic experience; (00:35:03) plans for the future.
Georgina Ferry interviews Matthew Snape, Visiting Professor (University of Oxford Department of Paediatrics), 22 November 2022 Topics discussed include (00:00:30) early interest in medicine, medical school studies in Melbourne, interest in paediatrics, work overseas in London at St Mary's children's intensive care unit, focus on vaccines to treat meningitis; (00:02:40) work at Oxford at the Oxford Vaccine Group, focus on MenB vaccine; (00:03:51) special issues involved in administering vaccines to children through clinical trials; (00:06:10) introduction and licencing of vaccine for MenB disease; (00:07:25) work on other vaccines including for swine flu; (00:10:50) Ebola vaccine studies; (00:11:55) first awareness of COVID-19, vaccine development at Oxford, work on the delivery of the clinical trial; (00:17:46) serology study, What's the Story? [Serum Test Of Representative Youngsters]; (00:25:03) Com-Cov study [Comparing COVID-19 Vaccine Schedule Combinations]; (00:33:50) results of the study; (00:35:55) work with Oxford Immunotec on processing T cell samples; (00:37:59) reactions owing to mixed combinations of vaccines; (00:39:44) replication of study with additional vaccines, including Moderna and Novavax; (00:40:33) Com-Cov3 study and immunisation of teenagers; (00:42:23) vaccination of children and response to this; (00:44:15) ethics of immunising children; (00:45:45) herd immunity; (00:48:38) extra testing during Com-Cov3 study; (00:49:45) outcome of Com-Cov3 study; (00:53:40) move to Moderna and current work as Vice President, Paediatric and Maternal Vaccines; (00:59:25) differences between academic and industry environments; (01:03:04) personal response to COVID-19 and the threat of infection; (01:07:42) working on-site during the pandemic; (01:08:40) recruitment for the Com-Cov study; (01:10:45) mental health and wellbeing; (01:11:35) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic; (01:14:59) flexibility around vaccine use during a pandemic and lessons for the future; (01:17:53) preparedness for a future pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Stephanie Tierney, Health Services Researcher, Departmental Lecturer, 15 November 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:47) early background and studies in journalism, master's study in disability studies, PhD studies at the University of Exeter, work as a researcher at the University of Manchester relating to long-term health conditions, work at the University of Warwick and research in compassion in healthcare and later work at the University of Oxford relating to social prescribing; (00:04:20) social prescribing; (00:06:55) services and patient referrals; (00:08:26) realist research and realist review; (00:13:40) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:14:49) impact of the pandemic on research; (00:15:45) primary data collection, work with social prescribing link workers; (00:18:13) project relating to implementation of link workers in primary care; (00:21:00) findings relating to link worker study; (00:22:46) collaboration with Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) on a study relating to isolation of the older generation during COVID-19; (00:29:20) future research; (00:31:15) attitudes to social prescribing in healthcare settings; (00:33:21) collaborators, including work with Helen Chatterjee, Kerryn Husk, and Geoff Wong; (00:37:00) changes to daily work as a result of the pandemic, particularly relating to teaching; (00:40:46) personal threat from COVID-19; (00:42:45) impact of remote working on wellbeing; (00:44:30) changes in attitude to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Marion Watson, Head of Operations, Clinical Trials (Jenner Institute), 14 November 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) early interest in biomedical science, including degree in Biochemistry at Imperial College London, PhD at St Mary's Hospital; (00:04:02) life after PhD including work at G. D. Searle on the molecular biology of yeast; (00:05:45) work for Glaxo Group Research and Sernova; (00:07:30) work in academia at Oxford, including at Oxford Brookes and Oxford University; (00:08:44) experience of working in clinical trials; (00:12:10) viral disease and vaccine work at the Jenner Institute; (00:13:30) role of Head of Operations; (00:14:34) emergence of COVID-19; (00:16:00) ChAdOx platform; (00:17:40) changes to role as a result of COVID work, patient safety, suspension of non-COVID related trials; (00:20:00) work with quality assurance team relating to clinical trials, MHRA inspections; (00:22:20) involvement in COVID trials, particularly relating to safety; (00:23:40) reporting of serious adverse events; (00:27:46) vaccine confidence and hesitancy, including webinars and Zoom Q&A's to address concerns of the public, both nationally and internationally; (00:32:09) involvement in Ebola vaccine work and COVID nasal spray; (00:35:06) COVID-19 challenge trials, including research ethics and committees; (00:39:15) trial volunteers, including mobile units; (00:42:25) day-to-day work during the pandemic and impact of COVID on ability to perform duties, threat of COVID-19 to personal health and the health of friends and family; (00:47:10) life working from home and wellbeing, including knitting for charity; (00:54:30) creativity in science, including technological advancements; (00:58:25) collaborative nature of the work on COVID-19; (01:01:00) changes to working practices as a result of the pandemic, including hybrid working; (01:03:00) the future of clinical trials and speed of approval for new trials; (01:06:00) changes in approach to work and life as a result of the pandemic; (01:08:02) vaccine confidence work and speech at the Lambeth Conference, including the church as a medium of communication in Africa.
Georgina Ferry interviews Raha West, Principal Investigator on the RECOVERY Trial, 10 November 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:45) early studies and medical training in Leicester and Brighton, research work at St George's Intensive Care, work as a senior anaesthetist at Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust; (00:03:40) research questions explored prior to 2020; (00:06:13) first awareness of COVID-19, early treatment of patients in March 2020; (00:12:35) strain on healthcare workers during the pandemic, PPE protection and interaction with COVID patients; (00:15:30) infection with COVID-19 in April 2020; (00:17:29) involvement with the RECOVERY trial; (00:23:20) process of recruiting patients for the RECOVERY trial; (00:25:15) delivery of the work on the clinical trial and growth of the team; (00:27:40) promotion of the trial and willingness of patients to participate; (00:30:30) wellbeing of team and initiatives taken to motivate team members in patient recruitment; (00:34:32) findings of the trial, particularly relating to dexamethasone; (00:37:04) ongoing nature of the study; (00:38:35) lessening pressure on hospitals owing to the rollout of vaccinations; (00:40:41) current PhD work, future focus particularly relating to research; (00:43:34) RW's view of what should be done differently should there be a future pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Annette von Delft, Translational Scientist (Centre for Medicines Discovery), 16 June 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:43) early interest in medical science, including studies in medicine and music in Germany, PhD at Oxford relating to vaccine development, interest in infectious diseases, work in sexual health and HIV clinics; (00:03:35) research interests, particularly relating to the development of drug or vaccine technology and resulting patient access; (00:04:30) main research methods; (00:06:15) the evolving nature of drug discovery, Medicines Patent Pool, patient cohorts in medium income countries and access to COVID drugs; (00:08:50) neglected diseases, patient cohorts and access to treatments for neglected diseases; (00:12:17) open science, particularly open drug discovery and the Structural Genomics Consortium; (00:19:57) first awareness of COVID-19, exposure to COVID-19 in early 2020, work of Science Group at the Diamond Light Source and work with the Chinese research group who worked on the SARS-CoV-2 main protease structure; (00:25:17) SARS-CoV-2 protease; (00:27:29) protease inhibitors, polymerase, compound development; (00:29:30) fragment screen experiment at Diamond Light Source [Frank von Delft's group] to look at the construct of the SARS-CoV-2 protease; (00:35:00) crowdsourcing of ideas and techniques for Moonshot, collaboration with Nir Weizmann of the Weizmann Institute, Chris Schofield, Alpha Lee at PostEra.ai, John Chodera and Enamine; (00:38:40) use of Twitter by the scientific community in the expansion of the Moonshot project; (00:42:40) AVD's role in the Moonshot project, work with Nicole Zitzmann and William James to set up a screening facility, coordination of cellular screening; (00:46:00) main outcomes of the project, funding and grant writing, in-kind contributions for novel drug discovery, ADME testing; (00:54:00) amount of compounds tested, pre-clinical scale-up; (00:58:38) envisaged future use of compound in treating COVID patients; (01:02:58) AVD's view of Moonshot as a model in terms of future drug discovery; (01:06:18) changes in attitude and approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews José Villar, Professor of Perinatal Medicine, 8 November 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:42) early interest in field, training as a gynaecologist and obstetrician, work in Central and Northern America particularly at Johns Hopkins, Human Reproduction Programme; (00:03:20) public health concerns around maternal health, the role of the WHO, rural areas of Africa and Southeast Asia; (00:05:52) multi-country studies relating to caesarean sections, randomised trials on the effects of maternal factors; (00:07:30) relocation to Oxford in 2006, work on maternal conditions affecting pregnancy, research to understand the risk factors, possible interventions and targeting of subgroups to reduce negative pregnancy outcomes; (00:12:00) standardisation of care, involvement of Oxford in efforts to change obstetric practices, evidence-based medicine and work of Iain Chalmers of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit; (00:14:30) INTERGROWTH project; (00:26:52) first awareness of COVID-19, involvement of INTERGROWTH project, work with Stephen Kennedy and Aris Papageorgiou; (00:35:00) study design; (00:42:30) end of the study in October 2020, issues around funding; (00:49:00) risk to pregnant women from COVID-19; (00:52:00) delay of publication into findings, rejections from clinical medical journals; (00:57:10) press coverage generated after publication; (00:59:20) risk of no vaccination to pregnant women, evidenced by the study; (01:00:19) affect on public policy around the world, including the Center for Disease Control; (01:03:00) vaccination of pregnant women in the US, particularly health professionals; (01:05:00) risk to pregnant women by variants such as omicron; (01:08:00) impact of the pandemic on personal and working life; (01:12:10) personal threat from COVID-19; (01:15:00) changes in attitude or approach to work owing to the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Adam Ritchie, Senior Vaccine Programme Manager, 31 October 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:42) early interest in science, schooling in Australia, interest in palaeontology and evolution of viruses, University in Sydney and PhD, postdoctoral work at Oxford; (00:05:10) work at the John Radcliffe Hospital during postdoctoral work relating to projects on mad cow disease, malaria diagnostics, etc. and teaching of genetics and evolution on the human science programme, public policy teaching at the Blavatnik School; (00:09:25) work at the Jenner Institute with Sandy Douglas on rabies vaccines; (00:16:03) specifics of current role, work of Sandy Douglas and Carina Joe; (00:22:10) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:29:05) focus of the team, particularly relating to the large-scale vaccine manufacturing process; (00:34:30) meeting with Iona Tarbet in February 2020, collaboration with Pall facility and the physical transfer of cells to Portsmouth; (00:39:50) funding for the programme, award from the Nuffield Department of Medicine and discussions with government; (00:42:40) meeting at the Blavatnik School of Government in early March 2020; (00:43:55) the work of Sandy and Carina on the programme and the importance of their roles; (00:47:10) clinical trials, collaboration with Advent to manufacture thousands of doses; (00:50:10) doses of vaccine manufactured by Pall; (00:53:30) involvement of AstraZeneca; (00:56:15) reaction to the clinical trial results; (00:58:30) personal involvement in media and publicity; (01:03:06) subsequent work, including on rabies and Ebola, also work on intranasal vaccine, and BiPAD; (01:08:45) wider recognition of personal contribution; (01:13:10) collaboration with partners in industry, including work with Jon Humphreys of the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre; (01:15:40) impact of the pandemic on work and personal life; (01:19:30) PTSD reaction within the team to Ebola work; (01:21:56) support for wellbeing and mental health; (01:23:45) potential for Ebola pandemic or global transmission; (01:27:30) concerns for the future and lessons learnt from the pandemic; (01:31:07) changes in approach or attitude to work.
Georgina Ferry interviews Martin Landray, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, 27 October 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:19) early interest in medicine and medical school at University of Birmingham, interest in clinical pharmacology, clinical lectureship at Birmingham and attainment of PhD, interest in clinical trials, the work of Richard Peto and Rory Collins on randomised trial at Oxford; (00:15:29) The Heart Protection Study and work in the Clinical Trial Service Unit; (00:22:22) work designing clinical trials, including relating to lowering cholesterol in people with kidney disease and work with Louise Bowman; (00:25:30) changes to rules and regulations around modern clinical trials; (00:40:09) first awareness of COVID-19, early discussions of randomised clinical trial with Peter Horby and Jeremy Farrar; (00:48:45) selection of trial and particular drugs as part of RECOVERY; (00:50:33) use of steroids in infectious disease; (00:51:50) use of hydroxychloroquine in the trial; (00:57:20) recruitment of patients within hospitals; (00:58:40) ethics and regulatory approval, involvement of Chief Medical Officers and MHRA; (01:00:03) training of doctors, nurses and pharmacists; (01:01:01) NHS involvement in the trial compared to other health systems; (01:02:51) prescription of drugs for the trial, including work with the NHS and Roche; (01:06:11) reporting of the first results, including for Regeneron and dexamethasone; (01:11:09) COVID briefings at 10 Downing Street; (01:13:04) estimation of lives saved as a consequence of the trial; (01:16:54) contribution of the patients and medical staff taking part in the trial, the work of the trials team at Oxford; (01:19:10) retention of technical staff in academia; (01:21:46) changes to working life as a result of the pandemic, including remote working, personal response to the virus; (01:26:15) pressures during the trial and adverse responses; (01:27:10) practicing transparency throughout the trial and work with the media.
Georgina Ferry interviews Richard Cornall, Head of the Nuffield Department of Medicine, 26 October 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:18) early interest in medicine, including medical school at Cambridge, further studies and work at Oxford, interest in immunology and work at Stanford as a researcher, clinical training at Oxford; (00:02:20) research relating to diabetes, interest in autoimmune diseases and immunology, work with Simon Davis relating to the creation of drugs to combat disease; (00:04:30) treatment for cancers using blockers for checkpoint receptors; (00:08:02) work as the Head of Nuffield Department of Medicine; (00:11:00) work of the department, particularly infectious disease and tropical medicine, including global research units; (00:14:52) division of the department, including global units and Oxford-based units; (00:15:30) devolution of the department, ability to take risks to support work; (00:19:01) first awareness of COVID-19, including collaboration with Peter Horby and ISARIC, first departmental COVID meeting on 30th January 2020, funding for vaccine work; (00:30:15) work on the vaccine, particularly relating to the manufacturing process; (00:32:00) work with Richard Liwicki, particularly relating to contractual obligations with AstraZeneca; (00:39:00) lighthouse laboratories and supply of equipment; (00:40:40) antibody response and sub-group, ELISA platform; (00:41:45) collaboration with Brian Marsden and Sarah Walker, relating to ONS survey using NHS samples; (00:43:16) work with Derrick Crook and Alex Mentzer; (00:44:09) collaboration with Gavin Screaton relating to cloning of antibodies; (00:45:00) work with David Stuart relating to spike protein; (00:45:50) partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific, Mark Stevenson, and Daniel Ebner relating to serology platform work, particularly in automation and setting up robotic platforms, collaboration with David Eyre relating to statistical work and quality control; (00:55:40) serology work in Thailand, relating to other diseases; (00:56:39) work of Derrick Crook, Tim Peto and Miles Carroll, particularly in the field of microbiology; (00:59:26) supply of protein to different companies; (01:01:30) tracking and isolation, including the development of a contact tracing app by Christophe Fraser; (01:04:40) the RECOVERY trial and work of Peter Horby, Martin Landray and Richard Haynes; (01:07:16) routes of access to funding for the research; (01:10:40) work of the Cornall lab during COVID; (01:11:27) pathology, antiviral discovery and moonshot programme; (01:13:36) COMBAT study; (01:15:02) Pandemic Sciences Institute and pandemic preparedness; (01:18:03) momentum of collaborative work during the pandemic and projects for the future; (01:20:50) role of the University of Oxford during the pandemic and public perception; (01:23:38) media attention and public perception of individuals in the department; (01:26:50) changes to working day, including remote working and online meetings; (01:28:00) work of the professional services teams, on-site working in laboratories; (01:28:34) overseas units, including the work of Philip Bejon in Kenya on viral screening, Edwin Barasso[?] in Nairobi as principal advisor to the government, Indonesian unit and particularly the sequencing work undertaken by Kevin Baird, and work on clinical trials by Guy Thwaites in Vietnam; (01:30:13) observational studies by microbiologists Tim Peto and David Eyre; (01:30:52) departmental safety, including work with Miles Carroll on guidance, co-ordination with the Sir William Dunn School and William James; (01:32:46) changes to work and personal life throughout the pandemic, including working on wards at the John Radcliffe Hospital and cover of renal clinics; (01:35:15) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic, and hopes for future collaboration with U.K. scientific industry. Note: the following section of audio is redacted (00:34:36) to (00:36:33).
Georgina Ferry interviews Marian Knight, Professor of Maternal and Child Population Health, 13 October 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) early interest in science and medicine, PhD and DPhil and training in obstetrics; (00:01:28) research interests, including pre-eclampsia and prevention of baby deaths; (00:04:03) work in Oxford since studies and training, including work in public health; (00:05:10) Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths and UK Obstetric Surveillance System; (00:08:10) complications in pregnancy; (00:09:51) data relating to infectious diseases such as flu and how disease affects pregnant women, including collection of data during swine flu pandemic in 2009; (00:12:18) increased vulnerability to flu during pregnancy; (00:13:32) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:15:58) 'hibernated' studies; (00:18:40) analysis of hospital data relating to pregnant women with COVID-19; (00:22:38) exclusion of pregnant women in treatment trials; (00:26:00) collaboration with other research teams at Oxford on COVID-19, including RECOVERY trial; (00:28:32) consequence of pregnant women not being included in vaccine trials; (00:30:22) misinformation and barriers to access to vaccines for pregnant women; (00:33:15) lack of prioritisation of pregnant women by those in advisory roles; (00:34:07) JCVI guidance, including moving pregnant women to the priority group for vaccine booster dose; (00:35:21) immunity of pregnant women during pregnancy and heightened risk from COVID-19 infection; (00:37:08) impact of the pandemic on the experience of pregnant women in society; (00:40:41) attendance of partners during births; (00:41:41) studies on women's experiences during the pandemic; (00:42:45) protocol for study relating to babies and mothers infected with COVID-19; (00:44:33) support within research community, particularly the pregnancy care community; (00:45:17) international collaboration; (00:47:04) personal advocacy for pregnant women; (00:48:00) impact of the pandemic on work, including high levels of work and changes in family and home life, personal threat from COVID-19, including volunteering for trials; (00:51:41) wellbeing and impact of work on supporting personal wellbeing; (00:52:27) support for the wider team; (00:53:59) university regulations with regards to remote working and later return to offices; (00:57:50) changes in approach to work in the future, including becoming more vocal on behalf of pregnant women; (00:59:20) potential for future change, particularly relating to pandemic preparedness.
Georgina Ferry interviews Tracey Mustoe, University Biological Safety Officer, 21 September 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:24) early interest in science, work as a research technician at Birmingham University; (00:02:10) biological safety and normal day-to-day work as Biological Safety Officer; (00:04:43) university rules around health and safety and adherence to guidance and national health and safety bodies; (00:06:38) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:09:18) remit of role as Biological safety officer in ensuring safety of university researchers, guidance relating to hazard groups; (00:13:20) work to set up a Containment Level 3 Laboratory with William James, including training course for handling samples; (00:17:44) Health and Safety Executive, including approvals for research; (00:19:45) other laboratories working on live virus samples; (00:21:47) length of time of this work, including work on challenge trial with Health and Safety Executive and Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens; (00:26:00) facilitation of research and challenges of working with researchers (00:29:31) lack of transmission of the virus in laboratory setting, owing to implementation of safety guidance; (00:31:03) overlap of work with colleagues across the university implementing safety measures, including work as part of the Safety Office; (00:33:21) collaboration with university colleagues including departmental facilities managers; (00:34:16) change in pace as of September 2022; (00:35:04) preparation, learning and improvements in systems as a result of work on COVID-19; (00:37:37) changes to working life as a result of the pandemic, including remote working, connection and collaboration with other university biological safety officers, Institute of Safety in Technology and Research, additional hours worked; (00:42:00) impact of this work on personal wellbeing, actions taken to support wellbeing; (00:43:50) return to office working, including inspection visits; (00:45:30) current levels of work, staff turnover, retraining of biological safety officers; (00:47:40) changes in attitude or approach to work, including hope for more collaborative working in laboratories.
Georgina Ferry interviews John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine, 21 September 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:20) personal impact during the pandemic, including relating to student supervision, change in the pace of work; (00:03:30) national lockdown and impact on work, meetings and calls with Lord Bethall [Lords Minister in the Department of Health], work with Matt Hancock MP, gaps in information distribution; (00:06:25) media and press appearances, including Channel 4 and ITV; (00:08:37) family life, including home working; (00:09:56) impact of the work on wellbeing, keeping to a routine including sleep and exercise; (00:13:11) progress of vaccine programme, including results from Pfizer, data from Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine results; (00:14:35) personal threat of catching COVID-19, including lifestyle changes; (00:18:20) early assumptions relating to the pandemic; (00:19:40) population level exposure to the virus, immunology, antibodies and T cell protection; (00:23:25) virus sequencing, including appearance of variants; (00:25:30) mistakes in modelling and differences of opinion amongst the scientific community; (00:28:04) differences in opinion in the scientific community relating to lockdown restrictions, worries relating to the collapse of the health system during the early stages of the pandemic; (00:29:34) manual for pandemic management, lockdown restrictions in Africa (00:34:58) calls with Chris Murray [University of Washington, Seattle] relating to modelling; (00:35:45) vaccination and protection for life from severe disease; (00:38:00) stepping back from advisory roles relating to COVID-19; (00:38:36) future pandemic preparedness, including preparedness for other viruses including Nipah; (00:41:32) new work including a systematic approach for characterising infections and identifying pathogens earlier, development with the G20; (00:43:47) One Shot campaign.
medical sciences, epidemiology, covid-19 (disease) Topics discussed include (00:00:29) early interest in health, degrees in mathematics at the University of Warwick and interest in mathematical biology, PGCE training and work as a teacher and later work abroad; (00:02:45) modelling and computational approaches to public health; (00:04:22) future planning of health services and impact on policymaking; (00:05:50) prior projects, including research relating to methods for dealing with the emergence and spread of antimalarial drug resistance; (00:13:24) collaboration with other researchers, including interdisciplinary nature of the role; (00:15:11) adoption of modelling work into practice, including malaria work; (00:16:20) problem of infectious disease on a global scale; (00:20:13) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:24:25) key elements of COVID model; (00:26:55) collaboration with others on COVID model, including Ricardo Aguas and Nathaniel Hupert; (00:30:00) CoMo Consortium [COVID-19 International Modelling Consortium]; (00:33:23) consortium members' access to their individual governments or health services; (00:34:56) non-pharmaceutical interventions included in the model; (00:37:02) evaluation of how effective the model was to the policies of various countries; (00:40:37) impact of the work on the United Kingdom, including collaboration with Oxford COVID-19 research teams; (00:44:43) age structures and proportion of the population at risk, including variation by country; (00:47:21) changes as a result of the pandemic, including issues with funding support; (00:51:37) consultancy opportunities and generation of income; (00:53:46) research leadership and opportunities for international colleagues; (00:55:26) Oxford research collaborations; (00:57:41) models relating to multiple diseases, including work with Sheetal Silal and Rima Shretta on project to simulate potential elimination of malaria from the Asia-Pacific region; (01:04:07) awareness and profile of data-driven approaches as a result of the pandemic; (01:09:26) changes as a result of the pandemic, working conditions including remote working; (01:13:01) mental wellbeing, including importance of the work in supporting wellbeing; (01:18:01) personal threat of exposure to COVID-19; (01:20:06) changes in approach to work as a result of the pandemic and hopes for the future relating to pandemic preparedness.
Georgina Ferry interviews Max Roser, Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Global Development, 2 September 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:33) early interest in economics, including studies in philosophy and geoscience at university in Austria, PhD studies, work in Oxford; (00:03:00) influence of travel on focus on global inequality; (00:04:40) development of Our World in Data website; (00:10:47) different kinds of data collected and origin of data, including data aggregation; (00:12:25) data visualisation, including use of diagrams, graphs, charts and world maps; (00:14:07) main user base during the early days of the website, use of social media to share data; (00:19:20) use of data by policymakers; (00:21:10) framing of data, including world's largest problems and living conditions; (00:24:15) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:25:31) pivot of work towards collection of COVID-19 data by Our World in Data; (00:31:50) particular data collected and published, particularly early World Health Organisation data, work with Hannah Ritchie to transcribe data, Breck Yunits relating to website data presentation, and Daniel Gavrilov who worked on presenting exponential growth; (00:38:30) funding for the work; (00:41:08) collaborative nature of the work; (00:42:40) changes to ways of working, including remote working and onboarding new colleagues; (00:44:25) collaboration with team at the Blavatnik School of Government, work with other data aggregators; (00:50:30) work with journalists, particularly relating to collation of data; (00:52:50) presentation of data relating to vaccinations, creation of global map showing vaccination progress, collaboration with Edouard Mathieu and his work to build tools and improve data; (01:00:30) work with variants and excess deaths, including collaboration with CoVariants.org and Sondre [Ulvunde Solstad] at The Economist; (01:02:00) undercounting by media outlets of excess mortality during the pandemic (01:06:13) collaboration with colleagues at the Blavatnik School of Government; (01:08:35) aggregation of data and its use by policymakers, policy in Germany, development of Pfizer vaccine and vaccine approval and rollout; (01:13:41) the status of data as a result of the pandemic; (01:15:12) science communications and raising understanding of science in the general public; (01:16:53) the International Best Practice Advisory Group, including outputs and impact on policy; (01:19:06) current data work, including ongoing work on COVID-19 and growth of team; (01:21:07) funding for continued project work on Our World in Data; (01:22:20) work on other topics for Our World in Data, including a database on the history of war; (01:31:15) changes in approach to work as a result of the project; (01:34:17) datasets relating to pandemic risk and preparedness.
Georgina Ferry interviews Carina Joe, Senior Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Vaccine Development, 1 September 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:32) early interest in science and route to current role at Oxford, particularly biotechnology, Masters course at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, PhD and work on vaccines including manufacturing process; (00:07:35) the process relating to identification of pathogens and use of vaccine development and manufacturing to create a vaccine technology to generate an immune response to the pathogen; (00:20:26) work at the Jenner Institute, particularly relating to good manufacturing practice in vaccine manufacturing; (00:22:41) work on advancing manufacturing scale using rabies vaccine with Sandy Douglas, optimising of process and advancement to clinical trial; (00:26:00) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:27:19) start of work on SARS-CoV-2 GMP production of vaccine [ChAdOx1]; (00:30:08) challenge of upscaling the manufacturing process to 200 litres; (00:35:38) improvement of productivity, modification of downstream process to accommodate; (00:38:30) work with scientists at the Pall Laboratory in Portsmouth and transportation of starter cells; (00:42:22) timetable for development of the manufacturing process, including scale-up; (00:46:22) collaboration with members of the team, including Associate Professor Sandy Douglas and Dr Adam Ritchie and work schedule; (00:47:40) 200 litre scale-up using large bioreactor at Pall Lab, development of GMP protocol; (00:49:15) distribution to commercial entities to make ingredients using GMP protocol, including Oxford Biomedica, Serum Institute of India, Cobra (Biologics) and Halix (BV); (00:50:53) lab work and meetings with companies; (00:51:30) bottlenecks in the process of upscaling to 200 litres, revamp of downstream process to accommodate 1,000 plus litres; (00:56:15) use of process in the future and ChAdOx technology to manufacture different vaccines; (00:57:26) relentless nature of the work and adaptation for different vaccines; (00:58:56) vaccine equity and distribution to low and middle-income countries; (01:00:00) COVAX; (01:01:23) visits to manufacturing sites, including in France; (01:01:50) current work, including improvement in manufacturing process, particularly simplicity of design; (01:03:40) work/life balance, including current working hours and change from 2020; (01:05:30) remote working and changes lockdown brought to working life in general; (01:06:40) personal wellbeing, support of team at work, intense project workload against a tight timescale; (01:12:05) wellbeing as a result of project work; (01:12:56) changes in approach to work as a result of the project, including a change in perspective; (01:15:54) future hopes for career. Note: the following sections of audio are redacted (00:11:47) to (00:12:00) and (00:13:24) to (00:14:25).
Georgina Ferry interviews William James, Professor of Virology, 18 August 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:22) early interest in medicine, particularly genetics, studies in Birmingham, PhD at Oxford and academic post at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology [teaching bacteriology], work with James Porterfield on viruses, research in the 1980s on HIV; (00:03:07) macrophages, including how they interact with viruses; (00:08:00) macrophage differentiation pathway; (00:10:00) work in university administration, including as departmental bursar, Pro-Vice Chancellor; (00:16:47) first awareness of COVID-19, running of containment laboratories; (00:20:38) development of containment laboratories to work on live virus for SARS-CoV-2 at Oxford, work with Rebecca Moore, training of graduate students and postdocs; (00:22:13) infectivity reduction neutralisation assay, collaboration with Alain Townsend and Gavin Screaton's groups; (00:25:10) experience of collaboration during the early months of the pandemic, including hosting groups in containment facility, forum convened by Richard Cornall and remote meetings; (00:28:00) urgent questions, particularly relating to hospital diagnostics and sample handling, and the Phase II Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine clinical trial sample testing; (00:32:10) therapy and analysis, including monoclonal antibodies, ACE2 receptor; (00:36:09) SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and immunology, including interaction with ACE2 receptor; (00:41:10) work on ACE2 by colleagues in Zhuhai, China and work on nanobodies at the Rosalind Franklin Institute, Wellcome Trust collaborative programme and Disease X; (00:43:09) work on passive immunisation prior to epidemic outbreak; (00:44:35) work on aptamers; (00:50:00) use of stem cell technology in COVID; (00:57:29) level of knowledge of coronaviruses; (00:59:11) Dunn School team; (00:59:53) authors of scientific research papers, particularly collaborations; (01:02:31) ongoing lines of research started because of the pandemic; (01:07:46) undergraduate teaching, including remote teaching via Teams; (01:11:18) return to normal within the university; (01:13:15) personal impact of COVID-19, including ability to work in the laboratory; (01:14:30) threat from COVID-19, both inside the containment lab and in public, infection with COVID-19; (01:17:30) COVID safety regime within department; (01:18:50) sense of wellbeing generated through work on COVID-19; (01:19:50) involvement with national and international bodies; (01:21:10) changes in approach to work as a result of COVID-19; (01:23:05) funding for COVID-19 research. Note: the following sections of audio are redacted (00:21:08) to (00:21:14) and (00:44:50) to (00:47:09).
Georgina Ferry interviews Alain Townsend, Professor of Molecular Immunology, 16 August 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:44) early interest in medicine and St Mary's Hospital Medical School, training with Professors Stan Peart and Hugh Dudley, work with Ita Askonas and John Skehel on flu virus at the National Institute for Medical Research, interest in immunology, PhD research on T-cells, retraining as a general physician at Oxford; (00:21:51) work in the lab on flu, particularly work with students in monoclonal antibody response to flu, collaboration with Mark Howarth on development of a flu vaccine using protein neuraminidase; (00:38:30) first awareness of COVID-19, including work with George Gao; (00:46:30) lack of funding for development of vaccine technology, work with Absolute Antibody, creation of a simple test for antibodies to COVID; (00:50:00) work with Chris Hainsworth [Centre for Process Innovation] and Ian Fotheringham [Ingenza] relating to expression of vaccine in yeast, production process, funding and work with Pamela Bjorkman; (00:59:10) funding for positions within the team, funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; (01:03:35) receptor-binding domain mutations; (01:06:30) funding agencies; (01:09:14) collaboration with Etienne Joly on inexpensive and easy antibody [finger prick] test; (01:18:20) therapeutic antibodies, work with Arthur Huang, new variants, regulatory set-up; (01:25:05) impact of biological safety restrictions on lab work, impact on new students; (01:28:41) lessons learned as a result of the pandemic; (01:31:42) personal threat of infection by COVID-19, social distancing, challenge studies, reduction of restrictions in mid 2020; (01:37:10) the concept of herd immunity; (01:38:48) new variants and reinfections, personal experience of COVID-19, absenteeism and economic impact; (01:40:29) behaviour of the population in pandemic situations; (01:41:45) public messaging and testing during the pandemic; (01:43:35) positives of working collaboratively, scientific friendships and working relationships; (01:44:48) views on Material Transfer Agreements and spin-offs; (01:46:35) retirement. Note: the following sections of audio are redacted (00:11:36) to (00:12:34); (00:15:53) to (00:16:02); (00:21:38) to (00:21:42); (00:35:52) to (00:36:32); (00:43:23) to (00:45:29) and (01:32:59) to (01:33:08).
Georgina Ferry interviews John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine, 28 April 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:10) emergence of the pandemic in Europe, particularly in Lombardy, Italy; (00:01:08) concerns relating to a lack of PPE in the health service, ventilators (including ventilator competition launched by U.K. Government, call with former Minister of Health in China, Chen Zhu), and testing; (00:04:21) global manufacturers for the vaccine, the Serum Institute in India, Phase II trial; (00:07:07) Operation Warp Speed and development of vaccines in America; (00:08:58) vaccine readout and result, Pfizer results, Select Committee on Science and Technology, Moderna results; (00:15:10) challenges, particularly relating to international reception and European procurement; (00:17:25) MHRA approval and vaccine rollout in the U.K., work with Government Minister Nadhim Zahawi; (00:18:42) reports of thrombosis in Europe, changes in delivery of the vaccine to different age groups; (00:22:00) embargo of vaccine in India, COVAX and vaccine supply for Africa; (00:24:09) surplus of vaccine, current use in the U.K.
Georgina Ferry interviews Aris Katzourakis, Professor of Evolution and Genomics, 27 January 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:32) AK's early interest in science, virus evolution, PhD studies, post doctoral work in Oxford and later post as a professor in this area; (00:01:48) what is a virus?; (00:04:07) the role of viruses in the evolution of their hosts; (00:04:45) methods of research; (00:06:35) why viruses are interesting in the context of evolutionary biology; (00:11:00) bats as reservoir species, transmission of viruses between species; (00:14:00) AK's first interest in COVID-19, impact on life and research owing to lockdown restrictions, trade union involvement; (00:21:00) shift in research to COVID-19, work with PhD student on measuring the impact of COVID-19 in Iran, collaboration with a team at Imperial College London on the concept of herd immunity; (00:25:10) peaks of infection waves over time and a lack of natural end to the pandemic through natural immunity; (00:27:10) variants and transmission over time; (00:29:10) emergence of other viruses over time, adaptation of viruses; (00:30:32) interactive and collaborative nature of pandemic-related research, interaction by the scientific community on social media; (00:32:47) advisory and media work during the pandemic, trade union work and contribution to 'Scientists for Labour' and Independent SAGE; (00:34:54) collaborative paper with Trish Greenhalgh on mitigation measures at universities, an open letter in the British Medical Journal 'COVID-19: An urgent call for global 'vaccines-plus' action'; (00:37:40) natural selection and evolution of the COVID-19 virus; (00:40:15) Government response to scientists and scientific advice; (00:42:55) endemicity; (00:46:46) personal response to COVID-19; (00:48:45) working hours during the pandemic; (00:50:00) the impact of the pandemic on teaching; (00:54:28) the University's response to the pandemic; (00:56:30) the impact of the pandemic on personal well-being; (00:58:10) research questions to explore in the future, including the emergence of new variants; (01:00:54) changes to approach to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Lucie Cluver, Professor of Child and Family Social Work, 7 July 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:21) early interest and training in social work, work in South Africa and with children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, academic social work; (00:02:00) HIV projects, including evidence-based interventions and work with families; (00:07:20) first awareness of COVID-19, including correspondence with colleagues at Oxford, University of Cape Town and Stellanbosch, WHO, UNICEF, USAID and CDC on remote digital resources [particularly tip sheets with COVID advice]; (00:12:15) dissemination of information and global reach, adaptation of resources by various countries, illiteracy, radio and tv programmes; (00:16:48) donors, including The LEGO Foundation, The Oak Foundation, Human Safety Net Foundation and University COVID Response Fund; (00:18:17) Playful Parenting Responses, supporting parents with their own stress and mental health; (00:20:50) tips included in the resources; (00:24:23) specific threats to children exacerbated by the pandemic; (00:26:40) work with Jamie Lachman and retrospective studies on the COVID-19 resources; (00:29:00) setting up of an inter-agency UN partnership; (00:31:15) the impact of the pandemic relating to the ability to generate funds for this work; (00:32:50) impact of the pandemic on LC's personal and work life; (00:34:50) personal response to the threat of COVID-19; (00:37:27) wellbeing and workload; (00:38:29) changes in approach to work after COVID.
Georgina Ferry interviews Carl Heneghan, Professor of Evidence Based Medicine, 4 July 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:41) early interest in medicine and studies at Oxford, position within the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, work as a GP and in an out of hours setting at evenings and weekends; (00:02:37) the concept of evidence-based medicine; (00:04:33) systematic reviews, randomised control trials, patient-centred medicine and informed decision-making; (00:07:25) other aspects of evidence-based practice, including qualitative research, observational data, diagnostic studies; (00:09:43) main areas of interest prior to COVID-19, applied health sciences; (00:11:50) modes of communication to inform doctors of new evidence, including through up-to-date guidelines; (00:13:29) publics appetite for evidence-based practice as a result of COVID-19; (00:14:38) first awareness of COVID-19 in early January 2020, including article for the BMJ relating to excess mortality, podcast relating to coronaviruses, swine flu pandemic of 2009, outbreak in Northern Italy, work as an urgent care GP in March and lack of PPE, experience of COVID infection; (00:21:55) uncertainty over new pathogens, including of severity, effect on different age groups; (00:24:28) return to work in urgent care, including experience of an unusual quietness in urgent care, patients presenting late for ongoing issues; (00:26:28) weekly seminar with the media on ONS death figures and how to interpret the data; (00:28:07) immunosenescence in the elderly; (00:32:30) Oxford COVID-19 Evidence Service; (00:36:18) lack of preparedness within the NHS particularly relating to PPE, viewpoint on the first national lockdown; (00:44:35) studies on transmission of the virus, human challenge studies, systematic reviews on the modes of transmission, airborne transmission and the terminology around this; (00:55:50) the precautionary principle; (00:59:00) PCR testing; (01:07:10) work with the Cabinet Office and policymakers, polarisation of views, work with colleagues in Oxford during the pandemic including Sunetra Gupta, shifts in people's views over time; (01:12:20) Great Barrington Declaration and the harms evidenced as a result of non-pharmaceutical interventions, including language development in children; (01:15:00) ability of hospitals in England to cope with COVID-19, including relating to capacity; (01:18:30) immunity and immune gaps, susceptibility of the population; (01:22:50) opposing viewpoints, social media and personal attacks; (01:24:28) collaboration during the pandemic and work with policymakers; (01:27:34) work in media commentary, relationship with the media; (01:30:20) schools projects and teaching children about risk, prevention, consent and informed decision; (01:32:12) public support and reaction; (01:32:57) working during the pandemic, including long hours and media work, article writing and urgent care shift work; (01:36:30) returning to working on-site, hybrid working and its impact; (01:39:00) changes in attitude to work after COVID-19, including in terms of hybrid team working, online courses, running of a summer school.
Georgina Ferry interviews Sunetra Gupta, Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, 15 June 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:35) early education, secondary school in Calcutta, later studies in biology and mathematics at Princeton University in the U.S.A., PhD at Imperial College London in mathematical epidemiology, fellowships with the Wellcome Trust and at Oxford, permanent position in the Department of Zoology; (00:02:31) interest in the evolutionary ecology of infectious disease systems, development of mathematical models; (00:03:45) model on influenza published in 2007 and testing hypotheses in a laboratory, development of a universal flu vaccination with postdoc Craig Thompson; (00:07:46) collaboration with laboratory scientists and clinicians to test hypotheses; (00:10:17) first awareness of COVID-19, including the spread of the virus globally and population immunity, lockdowns as public health policy, publication of a paper in March 2020; (00:22:10) development of an assay by Craig Thompson to test whether people had neutralising antibodies, inability to access samples, eventual access to samples from Scotland, ONS serology study; (00:25:50) lockdowns, herd immunity and seasonality and epidemic patterns; (00:32:20) focused protection particularly for those with comorbidities, failure to protect frontline workers, the cost of lockdown, particularly in regards to the poor and the young; (00:44:20) issues with the healthcare system becoming overwhelmed, including underfunding, care homes and making them safer, fever hospitals; (00:48:20) the Great Barrington Declaration, including emergence into the public sphere and the response from the academic community; (01:01:45) meeting with Professor Carl Heneghan and the Government; (01:05:50) political divisions relating to lockdown measures, meetings with government officials; (01:09:47) reaction from friends, response from the University; (01:14:18) views relating to vaccinating particular age groups, including younger groups; (01:15:55) long-COVID; (01:21:40) vaccination, exposure to COVID-19 and resulting protection; (01:22:50) questions relating to vaccination of younger generations, prioritisation of those in developing countries and those who are vulnerable; (01:24:50) effect on career as a result of the Great Barrington Declaration, including rejection of academic papers submitted to journals; (01:29:50) academic debate and social media, polarisation; (01:31:06) things SG would have done differently then, knowing what is known now; (01:37:20) things SG is optimistic about, including changes to academia, focusing on the next generation.
Georgina Ferry interviews David Stuart, Professor of Structural Biology, 10 June 2022. Topics discussed include (00:01:33) early interest in biological sciences and education at King's College London and University of Bristol looking at crystallography and structure of proteins, work in China supported by Dorothy Hodgkin and David Phillips, work with Louise Johnson at Oxford and lectureship working on structural virology; (00:06:21) importance of knowing about the three-dimensional structure of a virus or protein; (00:09:13) small molecule therapeutics and drug design; (00:14:25) tools used to see these molecules, including x-ray crystallography and electron microscopy, modern crystallography; (00:18:52) synchotrons and their development, particularly in the U.K., Diamond Light Source; (00:20:45) first awareness of COVID-19, call from Rao Zihe in China in early 2020 and first work on the structure of SARS-CoV-2 protein using the Shanghai synchotron, set-up of a programme at Diamond and XChem system with Martin Walsh and Frank von Delft, dissemination of information from the work at Diamond on Twitter and resulting global collaboration and moonshot project; (00:29:50) work relating to the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein; (00:33:28) prior knowledge and studies of other coronaviruses, structural similarities between different viruses; (00:35:40) strengths of STRUBI [Division of Structural Biology], work of postdoc Yuguang (Zhao) on structural work and protein design; (00:38:01) answers sought from working with the virus spike protein, including the making of reagents to give to individuals to do proof of principle experiments; (00:39:30) collaboration with the Paul Scherrer Insititute in Switzerland, Daniel Ebner at the Target Discovery Institute and Derrick Crook, particularly relating to serology testing; (00:42:41) discovery science and work to uncover the possibility for designing small molecule therapeutics against the spike protein; (00:45:00) work on the interaction of antibodies, collaboration with Gavin Screaton and work on gold standard serology, OPIC Green Suite and live virus work; (00:48:33) work with Jim Naismith and Ray Owens relating to nanobodies and development of high affinity nanobodies as potential therapeutics; (00:52:53) changes to working practices owing to the pandemic, regularity of meetings and renewed sense of collaboration between different departments and disciplines. Note: the following section of audio is redacted (00:28:40) to (00:28:58).
Georgina Ferry interviews Jennifer Beam Dowd, Professor of Demography and Population Health, 26 May 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) work on the social determinants of health, graduate school education at Princeton University in Economics and Public Policy, later postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan and work with Allison Aiello, Assistant Professorship at City University of New York in epidemiology and demography, work at King's College London and Oxford; (00:04:20) interdisciplinary nature of work, collaboration, definition of demography; (00:07:25) focus of demographic research prior to the pandemic, particularly in terms of health; (00:11:40) data analysis and collection methods; (00:14:04) first awareness of COVID-19, including early departmental meeting, outline paper relating to age compositions in populations, social media and media exposure; (00:21:50) follow-up analysis of effect on the U.K. domestically, paper relating to the mapping of hospital capacity comparing with the age structure of different regions; (00:25:45) data and Government policy, particularly the 'bubble paper' relating to limiting social contacts to key people; (00:30:10) work by Melinda Mills relating to face masks; (00:31:36) collaborative work on COVID-19 within the Leverhulme Centre including papers on excess mortality and life expectancy; (00:41:50) socioeconomic determinants of health and mortality, including data collection; (00:46:22) inequalities within society and the potential for policy changes; (00:49:50) communication work with the general public particularly through social media, including 'Dear Pandemic'; (00:56:00) pandemic science communication and its challenges; (00:57:45) 'Querida Pandemia', global interest in 'Dear Pandemic' particularly U.S. engagement, women followers and countering misinformation; (01:02:16) transitioning to non-COVID topics for science communications for the general public, writing on vaccines to alleviate public fears; (01:05:39) educating people on how to read scientific news, empowering people to better understand science literacy by themselves; (01:06:37) experiences with colleagues on the 'Dear Pandemic' project; (01:08:20) impact of the pandemic on work life and routine, including remote working; (01:10:13) working hours, including research, outreach and media work; (01:14:25) negative responses to 'Dear Pandemic'; (01:16:06) personal response to risk of infection with COVID-19; (01:17:21) future research interests as a result of the pandemic, funding for a project to look at mortality trends in the U.K. and Europe including stalling life expectancy; (01:21:20) changes in attitudes to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Fernanda Duarte, Associate Professor in Computational Organic Chemistry, 26 April 2022 Topics discussed include (00:00:21) early education and career in Oxford and Edinburgh; (00:00:40) early interest in chemistry; (00:01:16) use of computation in chemistry, including modelling work on enzymes; (00:02:30) process of building models; (00:03:37) collaboration with other chemists within the laboratory, particularly on methodology; (00:04:21) understanding how chemical reactions happen, including for drug development; (00:05:29) enzyme modelling involving metal ions; (00:07:03) first awareness of COVID-19, including attendance at a computational modelling conference in Bristol in March 2020; (00:08:18) work with Professor Chris Schofield, virus enzyme modelling particularly relating to the replication of the COVID-19 virus [main protease enzyme]; (00:12:10) enzyme interaction with its substrate; (00:14:05) identification of key interactions within the enzyme, testing of peptides experimentally in Oxford; (00:15:00) working remotely and on-site to continue experimental work; (00:15:30) current work relating to Mpro and exploration of the mechanism; (00:16:52) drug discovery efforts; (00:17:58) funding for project work, including work at the national computer facility funded by the UKRI; (00:19:05) personal reaction to the threat of COVID-19, living arrangements, laboratory safety and restrictions; (00:20:54) personal wellbeing, interaction with colleagues; (00:21:50) hours of work, particularly working more than usual; (00:23:15) collaborative nature of working on COVID projects; (00:25:39) changes to attitudes to work and hopes for moving forward in the future, including the value of human interactions in science.
Georgina Ferry interviews Henry Chan, DPhil Student, 26 April 2022 Topics discussed include (00:00:20) DPhil studies at the Synthesis for Biology and Medicine Centre for Doctoral Training [within the Department of Chemistry] and supervision under Professor's Fernanda Duarte and Chris Schofield; (00:00:53) early education in Hong Kong and interest in chemistry, awareness of the SARS outbreak in 2003 as a child; (00:01:51) undergraduate and DPhil studies at Oxford, MChem project working with Professor Schofield; (00:02:43) first awareness of COVID-19, Christmas holiday in Hong Kong, travel to Berlin for computational chemistry workshop in February 2020 and national lockdown in March 2020; (00:04:06) DPhil projects undertaken at the time, including computational modelling and introduction to the work on COVID-19 [with Professor Duarte and colleagues] using computational modelling to look at the activity mechanisms and binding of inhibitors to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus main protease; (00:05:29) work with other graduate students on the project, including Tika Malla, collaboration with Professor Garrett Morris's group and University of Bristol graduates; (00:07:58) Wednesday meetings, sharing of ideas, results and expertise; (00:08:57) computational projects relating to Mpro [main protease]; (00:10:50) compounds investigated relating to protease inhibition; (00:13:41) changes made to DPhil as a result of COVID research; (00:15:55) the student experience of the pandemic, lone working, supervision and living arrangements; (00:18:02) current focus of work, particularly relating to Mpro and PLpro [papain-like protease]; (00:19:53) personal wellbeing during the pandemic, working from home and empathising with others; (00:21:10) collaboration and the sharing of ideas and expertise in the scientific field.
Georgina Ferry interviews Meghana Pandit, Chief Executive Officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 7 April 2022 Topics discussed include (00:00:27) early interest in medicine, including education and training, work as a gynaecologist and obstetrician, hospital management and clinical and divisional director roles, MBA studies and role as Chief Medical Officer at University Hospitals in Coventry and Warwickshire; (00:07:25) the role of the medical director, including in regulatory matters, medical education and training and research and development; (00:08:50) Master's course in Healthcare Operational Management at Warwick University; (00:09:39) partnership with the Virginia Mason Institute and Medical Centre, including 'lean' management; (00:12:40) role in Oxford as Chief Medical Officer at four hospital sites across Oxfordshire; (00:17:02) quality improvement changes implemented, Safe Surgical Checklist; (00:20:10) Patient Safety Response Team; (00:22:20) safety huddles; (00:25:16) learning across the organisation in quality improvement; (00:27:15) first awareness of COVID-19 and significance for role; (00:28:30) staff briefing in early March 2020; (00:30:00) NHS England and COVID steering group; (00:35:50) Shelford Group, communication across Oxfordshire, COVID care at home service; (00:37:20) ventilator allocation and use; (00:38:20) the impact of the first and second waves of COVID during early 2020 and 2021; (00:42:10) loss of colleagues during the pandemic and risks to health workers; (00:43:50) staff testing programme and infection prevention control policies; (00:45:30) vaccine hub for Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines; (00:45:34) personal experience of COVID-19 infection; (00:48:40) long COVID clinic; (00:49:28) research and clinical trials, including recruitment for the RECOVERY trial; (00:51:20) medical student assistance during the pandemic; (00:53:00) learning as a result of the pandemic, future pandemic preparedness; (00:54:00) maintaining quality improvement during the pandemic; (00:55:30) personal wellbeing and the wellbeing of colleagues; (00:59:20) post-COVID aims, including patient experience and making Oxford University Hospitals outstanding; (01:00:00) changes in attitude to work post-COVID-19 and hopes for the future.
Georgina Ferry interviews Cathy Creswell, Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology, 7 April 2022 Topics discussed include (00:00:20) interest and education in clinical psychology, particularly in child and adolescent mental health developed during training, also a PhD in anxiety problems in children; (00:01:30) anxiety problems in children and adolescents, particularly persistent anxiety that interferes with daily life; (00:04:00) projects focusing on anxiety in children, particularly prevention and early intervention, including iCATS; (00:07:45) online intervention tool [OSI], using principles of cognitive behaviour therapy; (00:12:00) families and a history of anxiety; (00:13:51) early awareness of COVID-19 in February 2020; (00:14:52) impact of COVID-19 on children and families, particularly regarding restrictions; (00:15:35) Co-SPACE study and work with Polly Waite, including setting up the study as a survey to track children's mental health over time; (00:16:34) participant recruitment, particularly utilising UKRI-funded research network Emerging Minds; (00:18:29) data collection from 9,000 families, two year follow-up survey, analyses of the sample and findings; (00:20:00) trajectory of change for different people, including worsening or improvement of mental health over time; (00:21:07) qualitative interviews, reactions to the different lockdowns; (00:21:58) OxWELL study; (00:22:43) interventions and support relating to concerns for emotional impact on children, collaboration and development of an app [Parent Positive] offering parents support; (00:25:00) randomised control trial Co-CAT; (00:26:13) CoRAY study, relating to the mental health of teenagers, particularly dealing with social isolation and loneliness and uncertainty; (00:27:20) work with partner organisations on evidence-based resources for young people, including production company Fully Focused and BBC Bitesize; (00:28:43) development of a programme to promote these resources and provide further information and materials to schools; (00:29:35) contribution to policy making, production of reports, communication with the Department of Education; (00:31:58) work with teachers, involvement in lesson delivery and resources; (00:34:12) collaborative working as a result of the pandemic; (00:36:25) changes in children's behaviour over the pandemic; (00:38:00) questions asked to participants during the study; (00:39:22) personal changes to work during the pandemic, including remote working, new starters, embracing technology; (00:41:10) personal reaction to the threat of COVID-19 infection; (00:42:07) worries relating to COVID-19 in child and parent study participants; (00:42:58) support for the wider Co-SPACE team; (00:46:00) contribution through work during the pandemic, adjustments to ways of work, remote working and flexibility; (00:48:10) future interests and research questions, particularly relating to inequalities and families living on low incomes; (00:50:15) initial findings and trial results, particularly relating to rollout at scale of digital intervention work.
Georgina Ferry interviews Naomi Allen, Professor in Epidemiology and Chief Scientist at the U.K. Biobank, 6 April 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:28) early interest in science and education, including work with the U.K. Biobank and a focus on improving studies; (00:02:20) interest in measuring lifestyle factors and environment and their impact on health, methods for investigation and data collection; (00:04:06) U.K. Biobank; (00:08:45) achievements of the resource, including the world's largest study on genetic data [2017] using U.K. Biobank data; (00:11:12) first awareness of COVID-19; (00:12:39) U.K. Biobank work to set up a study relating to the spread of infection across the U.K.; (00:13:40) seroprevalence study, including participant involvement in the study [20,000 individuals]; (00:15:15) collaboration with other organisations, including work with Derrick Crook's laboratory on an assay test [measuring antibodies] for the study; (00:16:00) collection of samples and logistics of the study over a six month period; (00:16:25) data and findings from the study relating to infections in the first wave of 2020; (00:17:05) current work with participants to find out whether antibodies still persist after twelve to eighteen months after infection; (00:18:00) comparison with the Office for National Statistics seroprevalence study; (00:19:20) health record data for research into determinants of severe COVID-19, rapid updates of health record data including testing and critical care in hospitals; (00:21:34) findings relating to the main risk factors for developing severe COVID-19, including in ethnic minority groups; (00:23:08) broader research community findings; (00:24:14) changes to the general public consciousness on COVID-19 risks as a result of the research findings, contribution to policy; (00:25:15) Self-Test Antibody study and research into long COVID; (00:27:37) collaboration with Amazon relating to the distribution of over 200,000 home antibody test kits; (00:28:56) MHRA approval for use of the tests at home; (00:31:10) pre-pandemic imaging study of 50,000 participants, including a repeat scan of 2,000 individuals infected by COVID-19 to record changes after infection; (00:34:37) findings from the imaging study, including the effect of COVID infection on the brain, particularly a decline in grey matter volume; (00:37:30) COVID-19 variants and long COVID work; (00:38:52) U.K. Biobank in-house research; (00:40:02) preparedness for future pandemics, including a wider public discourse on science and a renewed sense of the importance of widescale epidemiological studies; (00:42:35) pharmaceutical investments in genome sequencing, drug discovery work; (00:44:05) work with the media and public health messaging; (00:46:57) questions raised and research interests for the future, including the importance of the study of infectious disease and how infectious disease impacts on chronic disease; (00:49:33) the impact of the national lockdown, including working remotely and collaboratively; (00:51:30) personal wellbeing as a result of work on the study; (00:52:56) collaboration at all levels and with organisations including the Department of Health and Social Care and Amazon; (00:53:50) primary care data access for other areas, including dementia, cardiovascular disease and cancer; (00:55:16) U.K. Biobank safety regime and COVID safety measures for patients; (00:56:36) personal response to and experience of COVID-19; (00:57:52) changes in attitude to work and hopes for the future, including flexibility for future team working and quality of life.
Georgina Ferry interviews Samantha Vanderslott, University Research Lecturer (Oxford Vaccine Group), 18 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:35) SV's early studies, undergraduate degree in Economics and International Development, interest in politics and governance with a Masters undertaken at Oxford, work for two years with the UK Government (Business, Innovation and Skills), interest in research and PhD at UCL (University College London) particularly Sociology of Science with research topic of 'Neglected Tropical Diseases,' and later work at Oxford with the Oxford Vaccine Group; (00:05:30) pre-pandemic work including the Collective Responsibility for Infectious Disease programme, including interdisciplinary research, individual and collective responsibility, work on typhoid; (00:11:20) research into attitudes to vaccination, including particular groups in the USA and Australia; (00:16:15) SV's first memory of COVID-19 in December 2019 and early 2020, conversations with Claas Kirchhelle and launch of exhibition 'Alice in Typhoidland'; (00:20:36) changes to research focus as a result of COVID-19, including work relating to views around vaccines, other health society issues including misinformation, qualitative work with trial participants; (00:23:35) data gathering methods, including interviews and focus groups; (00:25:20) research into trial participants, including survey questions asked relating to motivations, attitudes to risk, reaction of friends and family, wider views about vaccines; (00:28:40) trial participant interviews, including the varying experiences of participants; (00:30:40) questions asked of participants, including relating to vaccine equity, views on whether they had received the vaccine or placebo, behavioural changes after vaccination; (00:34:48) use of social media for data analysis, including research based on Twitter usage relating to pro and anti-mask and vaccine views; (00:40:41) conclusions drawn from the study on masks and vaccines, including findings relating to a response to political events, unifying concepts connecting groups together; (00:42:57) direct impact of these studies, including on minority ethnic communities, advice to policy-makers after working at a grass-roots level with these communities; (00:45:38) hesitancy amongst minorities, particularly due to past experiences and historical abuses, the importance of community groups having their voices heard; (00:48:14) new insights relating to vaccination views amongst the wider public, including controversies around side effects, high adoption of vaccines, COVAX and issues relating to manufacture and supply to low and middle-income countries; (00:51:32) the impact of vaccinations on global health, including lower mortality for infectious diseases; (00:53:36) the concept of lockdown fatigue; (00:55:54) the role of social sciences and humanities research towards the pandemic response; (00:56:43) future research interests, including the profile and portrayal of clinical trials in the media and public domain and how the structure and interest in trials have changed since COVID-19; (01:00:00) trial participants and other voluntary work within the community during the pandemic; (01:01:30) future trials and direct feedback from participant surveys; (01:02:28) SV's reaction to the threat of infection, particularly in relation to family members, personal experience of contracting COVID-19 and long COVID; (01:07:00) impact of COVID-19 on work, including remote work and working intensively; (01:07:47) involvement in teaching during the pandemic; (01:10:22) precautions within the Oxford Vaccine Group building; (01:14:55) research on COVID-19 and impact on SV's well-being; (01:17:21) changes to approach to work as a result of COVID-19.
Georgina Ferry interviews Sandy Douglas, Associate Professor (Jenner Institute), 17 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:20) initial questions relating to the large-scale manufacturing of the vaccine, including early ideas relating to a University spin-out company, the decision to partner with AstraZeneca to manufacture and distribute the vaccine; (00:04:25) steps taken to implement the partnership with AstraZeneca, including the decision by John Bell in relation to establishing a partnership, equitable access, early communication with Merck and work with the Serum Institute of India and WuXi Biologics, priorities of the University; (00:09:55) major contribution of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, including the speed of delivery, willingness to partner so that commercial-scale manufacturing of the vaccine could be achieved; (00:15:25) communications with Halix, Pall Corporation and Cobra Biologics; (00:17:01) shipment of cells used to make the vaccine to the Serum Institute of India to expedite the process, negotiations between AstraZeneca and the Serum Institute of India and the granting of a sub-licence to the Serum Institute; (00:22:19) direct correspondence with AstraZeneca, including calls between the Oxford vaccine team and Pascal Soriot, other partnerships, vision and transfer of manufacture to various other sites; (00:27:39) changes made to the manufacturing process; (00:33:02) manufacture of the vaccine by AstraZeneca, including the extensive preparation, manufacture of the vaccine by smaller partners including Halix and Cobra Biologics; (00:37:27) use of the vaccine in early clinical trials; (00:42:50) up-scale of manufacturing process; (00:43:26) 'fill and finish' process; (00:46:40) clinical trial results in late 2020, the status of large-scale manufacturing of the vaccine at the end of 2020, tests required on the vaccine by various authorities and regulatory bodies; (00:52:30) responsibilities over the manufacturing process after summer 2020, work on improving the manufacturing process with the aim of making more vaccine; (00:55:20) tension between the speed of process and ensuring that quality was maintained; (00:57:47) the large-scale production of vaccine in early 2021, including the output at Oxford Biomedica, Halix and Cobra Biologics, global scarcity of vaccines, tension relating to the supply of the vaccine to the EU and other countries, AstraZeneca as a scapegoat; (01:02:16) trial data and dosage, single doses and protection; (01:04:58) January 2021 study on intranasal application of the vaccine, reports of blood clots occurring after vaccination.
Georgina Ferry interviews Julia Hippisley-Cox, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and General Practice, 16 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:32) JHC's medical training at Sheffield University Medical School, work as an NHS GP in Oxfordshire and work as a researcher in Nottingham and Oxford; (00:01:08) the main question that informs research interests, particularly relating to decisions doctors and patients need to make about their healthcare; (00:01:35) research in electronic healthcare records, including development of large databases and use of data to investigate how common different diseases were, outcomes, risks and treatments, as well as investigation into safety of medicines; (00:03:37) electronic health databases, including anonymisation, information relating to illness, tests and treatments, use of databases for research purposes; (00:06:58) Q risk assessment tool, adoption throughout the NHS; (00:11:45) experience of programming, transfer of coding skills put to use to combine with clinical practice and epidemiology, Doctors Who Code; (00:12:59) JHC's first awareness of COVID-19, development of Q surveillance system in 2005 relating to bird flu, pandemic planning, work with the Government Chief Medical Officers on COVID-19 to identify at risk patients, data modelling and patient engagement; (00:22:49) development of clinical risk calculator QCOVID, updates to the risk model owing to vaccination output and virus variants; (00:26:20) prioritisation of therapeutic treatments for patients using the QCOVID tool; (00:27:06) at risk groups identified by the tool at the start of the pandemic; (00:28:20) investigation into vaccine safety in at risk groups including comparison of vaccines and their side effects, comparisons of risk from vaccines and from infection with COVID-19; (00:34:34) drug safety surveillance and the Yellow Card System; (00:37:33) change in patient understanding and behaviour towards their medical data, personal risk assessment and consideration towards others; (00:39:50) NIHR funding and COVID-19 Research Response Fund; (00:43:39) future funding opportunities, work with NHS Digital, screening processes within the NHS including for cancer; (00:50:30) multi-disciplinary collaboration within the University to research the pandemic; (00:53:18) research on the safety of new COVID-19 therapeutics, work with an Oxford team led by Ben Goldacre, continuation of collaborative working once the pandemic has ended; (00:58:26) JHC's personal response to the threat of COVID-19, adherence to Government guidance; (01:00:24) changes to work, including commuting, remote meetings, return to usual ways of working; (01:02:03) continuing work as GP, delivering remote surgeries; (01:03:44) the experience of researching COVID-19 on JHC's well-being; (01:05:24) changes JHC would like to see in future research, including working relationship with patients; (01:07:15) trip to House of Lords relating to all-party parliamentary group on medical research.
Georgina Ferry interviews Daniel Ebner, Principal Investigator and Stephanie Hatch, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, 16 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:31) [SH] early interest in biomedical science, PhD in the U.S.A. on DNA repair, work in London on cell biology and cancer research; [DE] early interest in medicine, pharmaceutical work and biotechnology, use of robotics for automation and screening work at the University of Oxford at the Target Discovery Institute; (00:03:00) [DE] cross-over between academia and industry; (00:04:06) [DE] early beginnings of the Target Discovery Institute and its work, particularly drug target discovery using screening processes and identification of a novel starting point for drug development; (00:08:58) [SH] work in radiation, oncology and biology, transfer to the Target Discovery Institute Laboratory, work with automation and processes involved; (00:13:28) [SH] first memory of COVID-19; (00:15:40) [DE] decision to utilise resources of the Target Discovery Institute for COVID-19 research including meeting with Peter Radcliffe, correspondence with David Stuart relating to antibody testing, ELISA assay, protocol from Gavin Screaton's laboratory; (00:20:10) [SH] return to work after illness and laboratory work to develop the assay, scale-up of the protocol on the robot; (00:21:49) [DE] immunoassay development and collaborative work with various colleagues, testing of clinical and research staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital for COVID-19 antibodies; (00:25:20) intensive working hours in the laboratory, early morning meetings to share results, work with Alison Howarth in processing samples; (00:29:03) [SH] work with technology whilst under time pressure; (00:31:40) [DE] pace of work whilst working on refinement and experimentation process; (00:33:40) [DEl] Office for National Statistics tracking and partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific to install two new robots; (00:35:00) expansion of the team, including work with Alison Howarth (Project Manager for COVID Serology); (00:35:34) [SH] running of the experiment over the course of a year, including evolution and adaptation; (00:37:59) [SH] transition back to former work; (00:40:25) [DE] building COVID-19 policy, restart of research projects and restrictions on working within the laboratory; (00:43:05) [DE] pride in the serological platform, including large-scale multidisciplinary collaboration across a diverse range of people; (00:45:56) impact of collaboration on the ability to develop the test, impact on personal life and career path; (00:50:05) personal threat from COVID-19, adherence to restrictions, vaccine trial participation in Oxford; (00:54:43) [DE] changes to approach to future work and interests; (00:58:02) [SH] hierarchy and decision-making process, ability to voice concerns and opinions; (01:00:50) well-being and ability to work on COVID-19 research during the lockdown period; (01:03:00) reaction of others over COVID-19 research during the lockdown period, impact of working through the pandemic on personal well-being and after effects; (00:09:20) transition into working on different projects and positive effect on well-being.
Georgina Ferry interviews Cameron Hepburn, Professor of Environmental Economics, 15 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:31) CH's Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford, interest in environmental issues, MPhil in Economics, work at London School of Economics, set-up of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment; (00:01:46) purpose and aims of the Smith School; (00:03:35) main area of interest, including research on climate change, interdisciplinary work; (00:04:45) CH's first awareness of COVID-19, conversation with Professor Oliver Pybus on 6 January 2020, Oxford Review of Economic Policy and work to respond to COVID-19 through the journal; (00:07:09) commission of papers for a rapid response issue of the journal; (00:08:00) publication of the issue in May 2020, collaboration with a range of people on the economic and financial crisis induced by the pandemic; (00:11:36) economic policies and recovery; (00:15:10) use of the phrase 'Build Back Better'; (00:18:42) data collection for study, work with Brian O'Callaghan on the Global Recovery Observatory; (00:20:55) reaction to the global response to the challenges of the climate and pandemic; (00:22:42) greener responses to the pandemic recovery; (00:24:30) advice and work with various countries and global institutions relating to recovery policies; (00:26:00) work with businesses, goals to equip business to achieve net zero emissions; (00:29:32) collaboration between businesses relating to the environment; (00:32:52) work with politicians and civil servants relating to the improvement of society as a whole; (00:35:31) communication with the general public; (00:39:21) world outlook changes in the context of the pandemic, fundamental changes in the way people think about the environment; (00:43:57) future global investment to meet net zero target; (00:46:16) personal threat felt from COVID-19, risk to family and vaccinations; (00:49:14) impact of the pandemic on work life including remote working, impact on travel, family life and hobbies; (00:50:58) Climate Neutrality in Oxford, cross-collaboration with institutions on emission reduction and adoption of remote meetings and conferences; (00:53:34) changes in approach and attitudes to work as a result of the pandemic.
Georgina Ferry interviews Elizabeth Greenhall, retired GP, 11 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:35) EG's early interest in medicine, training in Oxford and London, public health training and running of Oxfordshire's Family Planning Service and later retirement; (00:02:37) first awareness of COVID-19 and early conversations with David Mant relating to setting up the University's COVID-19 Early Alert Service for testing and contact tracing; (00:05:10) Results Liaison Team of volunteers; (00:07:30) protocols and guidance developed for contacting students with test results; (00:11:40) care provided for students who had tested positive and anxieties relating to isolation and loneliness; (00:13:40) comparison of contact tracing through E.A.S. with the National Test and Trace Service; (00:17:20) changes to the role, including having the Single Point of Contact at the colleges contact students; (00:21:05) staff infections and use of the E.A.S., resulting health and safety reporting; (00:22:00) postgraduate reporting and issues; (00:23:30) decision to use the telephone as the best method to contact individuals; (00:24:35) work of the Single Point of Contact at each college, including delineation of households within colleges, assistance to students including those with underlying medical conditions; (00:27:17) advice from practicing doctors and infectious disease experts, including David Mant, Chris Conlon and Susanna Dunachie; (00:29:03) collaboration in response to the pandemic, within the wider university and between colleges; (00:33:05) evolution and adaptation of the service into 2021, movement of students during vacation periods; (00:37:00) easing of regulations and halting of the E.A.S. PCR testing; (00:38:05) emergence of omicron variant in December 2021; (00:40:10) events and parties after reopening and easing of regulations, including end of term parties, University's response to changing Government guidelines; (00:43:13) difficulties in dealing with the University from a public health perspective, including the speed of the decision-making process in an emergency; (00:46:20) lessons to be learnt; (00:47:09) EG's personal reaction to the pandemic and positive experience of working on the E.A.S. (00:51:08) make-up of the E.A.S. (00:52:45) positive lessons learnt; (00:54:18) future plans.
Georgina Ferry interviews Nicole Robb, Visiting Lecturer, Department of Physics, 10 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:47) NR's early interest in viruses, study of Biology at Imperial College, DPhil at the William Dunn School of Pathology working with Professor Ervin Fodor; (00:02:00) Postdoctoral position in Biophysics; (00:03:55) study of proteins, including structure, single molecule techniques; (00:06:42) use of single molecule techniques for the study of influenza virus proteins; (00:09:35) independent funding and setting up of own lab group; (00:10:40) fluorescent labelling and microscopy; (00:12:19) modern molecular techniques, including PCR and lateral flow testing for diagnostics; (00:13:54) visualisation of viruses; (00:16:37) screen for seasonal flu strains and use of artificial intelligence; (00:20:02) NR's first memory of COVID-19 and potential for research work; (00:23:34) collaboration with researchers at the John Radcliffe research laboratory, including Professor Derrick Crook; (00:24:27) cross-collaboration between Warwick and Oxford; (00:25:00) publication of research; (00:25:24) spin-out company (OxDX) and the goal of the technology; (00:26:51) working with live virus; (00:32:11) challenges and differences in commercial working, hurdles including funding; (00:34:21) ongoing development of research and AI-powered rapid diagnostic technology; (00:35:20) impact on work during lockdown, including collaboration and interdisciplinary work; (00:38:25) impact on teaching during lockdown; (00:39:05) NR's personal response to the threat of COVID-19, concerns relating to visiting family members; (00:40:33) improved well-being as a result of research and purpose derived from this work, intensive working hours; (00:42:00) questions raised from this research and future interests.
Georgina Ferry interviews Andrew Soltan, medical doctor (John Radcliffe Hospital), 10 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:40) AS's early interest in medicine, medical studies at Christ's College, Cambridge and training in Addenbrooke's Hospital, 2018 move to Oxford; (00:02:00) research work in Oxford using machine learning methods for early detection and prediction of disease; (00:04:00) artificial intelligence, successes and innovations within the field, narrow AI and its use in clinical research and care; (00:06:23) research on abdominal aortic aneurysms, development of algorithm; (00:07:21) first memory of COVID-19, role as a Junior Doctor at the Adult Intensive Care Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital; (00:10:46) key data collected when patients arrive at hospital; (00:13:57) meeting with David Clifton on project to develop AI tools that could detect COVID-19 from routinely collected healthcare data such as blood tests and vital signs (CURIAL); (00:16:18) validation strategy for the project, development of faster means of carrying out tests; (00:19:20) genesis of the title of the project (CURIAL); (00:20:54) approval for the study from MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency); (00:22:17) Consultant Emergency Physicians of EMROx (Emergency Medicine Research in Oxford) and local approval to put the machine and algorithm into practice, assistance of medical students in running the tests; (00:23:41) comparison with lateral flow testing; (00:27:16) CURIAL One, CURIAL Lab, CURIAL-Rapide; (00:28:00) future plans for the technology, including a start-up company; (00:29:25) responsibilities and workload as a Junior Doctor and Clinical Academic; (00:30:58) risks associated with shifting to AI methods; (00:33:04) similar approaches being undertaken nationwide; (00:34:37) work at the John Radcliffe Hospital, including resources and PPE; (00:35:15) personal threat felt from COVID-19, early vaccination, affect on colleagues; (00:37:14) AI and day-to-day clinical use of this technology; (00:38:15) future interests, engagement in AI ethics and practicality of AI deployment; (00:40:12) working collaboratively with a range of people; (00:42:00) barriers and structures in adopting AI into clinical practice.
Georgina Ferry interviews Rebecca Moore, former Postdoctoral Researcher and Laboratory Manager, 9 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:01:03) RM's early interest in science and studies in biological sciences, microbiology and virology at Warwick University, work at Imperial College with HIV and blood processing for viral load, Wellcome Trust Funded PhD on adenoviral vector development for gene therapy, work in the U.S.A. undertaking post-doctoral studies on HIV, work at Oxford with Quentin Sattentau; (00:05:43) interest in laboratory work, including HIV vaccine design, work with students and teaching; (00:07:45) Containment Level III Laboratories and safety measures for working with live viruses; (00:11:22) RM's first memory of COVID-19 in early 2020, meetings with William James, Nicole Zitzmann and Maeva Dupont; (00:15:25) setting up the COVID-19 Containment Facility in the Category III Laboratory, meeting with Tracey Mustoe (University Biological Safety Officer) relating to risk assessment for working with SARS-CoV-2, code of practice and protocols for growth and titration, work with strains of live virus from England and Victoria, Australia and safety precautions required; (00:22:00) extra staffing required, process of titration, infection of vero cells with live virus, training provided to colleagues within the department (Michael [Knight], Marko Noerenberg, Michelle Hill) to carry out this process; (00:25:44) working both on-site and off-site, including home-schooling and laboratory work; (00:30:24) funding and various projects undertaken within the Containment Laboratory; (00:37:39) easing of restrictions, acquisition of PPE; (00:39:16) research on COVID-19 spike protein, nanoparticles; (00:43:14) inactivation of the virus; (00:44:44) changing workload and monthly counselling; (00:45:54) new role at SpyBiotech; (00:51:44) threat from COVID-19; (00:53:25) personal well-being; (00:54:50) department safety regime; (00:59:44) changes for the future in the way research is undertaken, acknowledgement of individuals who facilitate the research output; (01:02:20) collaborative nature of the COVID Containment Facility.
Georgina Ferry interviews Sandy Douglas, Associate Professor (Jenner Institute), 24 February 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:19) SD's medical studies and training, clinical medical student in Oxford, project alongside Clinical Foundation Training at the Jenner Institute, followed by a PhD, NHS training and postdoctoral research; (00:01:58) interest in the development of malaria and rabies vaccines, manufacturing process; (00:04:20) development and scale-up of clinical grade adenovirus vaccines at the Clinical BioManufacturing Facility; (00:06:35) Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub; (00:10:55) work with Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Carina Joe on new media; (00:16:19) first awareness of COVID-19, initial communication with Sarah Gilbert, article in The New York Times relating to the 'R value' and fatality rate; (00:21:00) pivot in vaccine development towards Sars-CoV-2, vaccines trialled and deployed for different viruses including Ebola and HIV; (00:27:00) rapid clinical trial design; (00:32:25) routine vaccine scale-up and trials; (00:38:04) manufacturing processes in the context of COVID-19; (00:41:10) scale up of vaccine, communication with the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, Cath Green at the Clinical BioManufacturing Facility, Halix, Pall Corporation and Cobra Biologics; (00:48:56) purification process of the adenovirus; (00:50:25) February 2020 plan for scale-up and involvement in departmental briefing, proposals for clinical development programme with Sarah Gilbert and Cath Green; (00:53:00) manufacture of first doses at the Clinical BioManufacturing Facility and later in Italy (Advent Srl), discussions about clinical trials, emergency clinical development and manufacture; (00:55:50) presentation on 26 February 2020 by the vaccine development team; (00:58:20) first meeting on the COVID Vaccine Programme between Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group, planning of Phase I trial; (01:02:10) issues with funding and investment in the vaccine programme, SD's fears for safety of family members; (01:04:50) investment from UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) for Phase I trial and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations); (01:06:00) calls with various organisations and contract manufacturers relating to the manufacturing process; (01:09:45) SD's personal experiences in March 2020, communication with David Kinder (World Bank) relating to investment by world governments in vaccines, Government Medical Officers Jonathan Van Tam and Patrick Vallance, Ian McCubbin (BIA Vaccine Manufacturing Taskforce), briefings relating to U.K. production of vaccine and requests for funding to scale up the manufacturing process; (01:17:20) contact with Government and funding for scale up of manufacturing and supply. Note: the following section of audio is redacted (01:06:07) to (01:06:24).
Georgina Ferry interviews Kristin van Zwieten, Professor of Law and Finance, 23 February 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:27) KVZ's studies at Oxford, Bachelor's in Civil Law, MPhil in Law, DPhil in Corporate Insolvency Law in India, research posts in Cambridge and Oxford; (00:03:07) overarching research interest; (00:04:58) methodology for research, including working with primary sources, collaborative and interdisciplinary working including with colleagues Horst Eidenmuller and Oren Sussman; (00:08:22) Government policy and corporate insolvency; (00:13:52) first memory of COVID-19 and opportunities for research; (00:19:34) early stages of the COVID research project relating to Government intervention during the pandemic; (00:25:12) presentation of paper to institutions with influence on Government policy; (00:28:10) later focus on Government response and corporate bankruptcy laws, with support through the COVID-19 Research Response Fund [project title COVID-19 Public Policy and Commercial Law]; (00:37:43) fraud relating to COVID-19 financial relief; (00:39:25) balance between bail-ins and bail-outs; (00:44:55) interdisciplinary nature of the project and ability to work collaboratively; (00:46:38) changes to approach to work in the future; (00:49:20) KVZ's personal response to COVID-19, family in Australia; (00:51:20) home-schooling, remote work and online teaching; (00:54:04) the impact of the pandemic on well-being and work life; (00:57:22) insights and lessons for the future and potential for new research; (01:00:30) the level of expertise of government treasuries and finance ministries.
Georgina Ferry interviews Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine, 22 February 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:18) JB's early interest and training in medicine, work with Sir David Weatherall, studies as Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and Stanford and later work at Oxford including as Nuffield Chair of Medicine and Regius Professor of Medicine; (00:01:10) interest in the mechanisms of different diseases and molecular medicine; (00:02:12) the evolution and expansion of medicine at Oxford; (00:07:05) involvement in public and national bodies, including the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research, Roche and work with David Cooksey; (00:12:44) nomination as Life Sciences Champion for the U.K, work with Government, the Treasury and Prime Minister David Cameron in an advisory capacity; (00:16:20) 100,000 Genomes Project and Genomics England; (00:19:18) work with Prime Minister Theresa May and Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; (00:22:04) JB's first awareness of COVID-19, communication with Jeremy Farrar (Director of the Wellcome Trust), George Gao (Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control) and Roche Board members; (00:25:40) NHS preparedness; (00:26:16) meeting of Oxford medical researchers called by Richard Cornall, including Sarah Gilbert, Adrian Hill, Gavin Screaton, Alain Townsend, Andy Pollard, David Stuart, Peter Horby; (00:28:20) first cases of COVID-19 in the U.K. and comparison with outbreak in Italy; (00:29:33) meeting at the beginning of March (in the capacity of Government Advisor on Life Sciences) at Whitehall in the capacity of Government Advisor on Health, called by William Warr (Health Advisor) including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Jeremy Farrar to discuss supply of PCR tests; (00:33:25) setting up of large-scale 'Lighthouse' laboratories to process PCR tests; (00:35:35) communication with James Bethell MP relating to vaccine passports and serological testing, work with Derrick Crook on antibody testing; (00:36:40) antibody testing platform set up by David Stuart and Richard Cornall; (00:38:03) communication with Mike Webb (Special Advisor, Treasury), work with Tamsin Barry (Director of the Office for Life Sciences) on surveillance and antibody testing, work of Sarah Walker on Office for National Statistics surveillance; (00:40:19) the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, communication with individuals including Roger Perlmutter (Head of R&D at Merck) relating to global production, Trevor Mundel (President, Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and Pascal Soriot (Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca). Note: the following section of audio is redacted (00:41:30) to (00:42:07).
Georgina Ferry interviews Richard Fletcher, Director of Research (Reuters Institute), 28 January 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:29) RF's early studies in computer science, Masters in Science, Technology and Society, and PhD in Sociology, research in Journalism in London and Oxford; (00:03:40) the decline of traditional print and television news media and growth of smart phone internet use for news consumption; (00:07:23) Digital News Report data; (00:09:30) RF's first memory of COVID-19 in early 2020; (00:10:38) research on COVID-19 including two studies: six-country survey on news use particularly relating to coronavirus beginning in April 2020 and work on a ten wave survey focusing on the U.K.; (00:13:21) findings of the studies; (00:17:00) increase in sources of information on coronavirus; (00:18:36) the U.K. study, changes in attitudes and behaviours; (00:21:00) publication of survey results including fact sheets and reports; (00:21:30) inequalities in news and information use in terms of demographic groups; (00:25:00) eight-country study undertaken in 2021, including a focus on vaccines; (00:26:04) differences in data between 2020 and 2021, including evidence of declining trust; (00:29:09) collaborative working, particularly internationally; (00:30:57) the main audience using this research and the data resulting from these studies; (00:32:16) influence on Government policy; (00:33:22) impact of a proliferation of data and 'infodemic'; (00:35:10) the impact of the first lockdown on ability to work and social interactions; (00:38:35) positive outcomes of changes to ways of work, including hybrid and remote working; (00:41:10) changes to working hours; (00:43:45) safety measures and policies for the Institute, involvement in these discussions; (00:45:01) contribution of COVID-19 research on personal well-being; (00:46:04) RF's personal reaction to COVID-19 in terms of health as well as social pressures; (00:47:40) future questions and research interests, including trust, acceleration of the decline of print news publication, misinformation on social media; (00:50:08) changes to approach to work and working environment.
Georgina Ferry interviews E. J. Milner-Gulland, Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity, 26 January 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:24) E. J. M-G's early interest in science and conservation, undergraduate studies at Oxford, PhD in the wildlife trade; (00:02:30) work in Cambodia in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society; (00:04:23) work on wild meat sustainability; (00:05:46) research programme in Asia, to understand the motivations of consumers in unsustainable wildlife use, including work on saiga antelope conservation; (00:13:10) transmission of disease through wild meat consumption, particularly Ebola; (00:15:15) emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan, the narrative around wet markets and emergence of disease through the wildlife trade; (00:18:40) possible COVID-19 origins; (00:20:08) the response from conservation NGO's and animal welfare organisations, including a ban on the wildlife trade; (00:25:14) U.K. Government advice on the wildlife trade and wet markets, risks of disease, research papers including mitigation measures for COVID-19 and sustainable outcomes; (00:28:30) the impact of the pandemic on wildlife and the wildlife trade; (00:31:58) project funding; (00:33:17) collaborative research; (00:36:10) international mechanisms for improving conservation, wildlife and public health concerns; (00:37:42) pandemic preparedness in relation to conservation and the wildlife trade; (00:44:00) personal response to COVID-19; (00:44:40) working hours, community work, advisory roles; (00:46:00) reactive nature of COVID response work; (00:47:20) lack of ability to travel for work; (00:50:05) working remotely with teams internationally; (00:51:20) research questions of interest in the future; (00:51:45) work on 'Pledge for Our Future' website and Conservation Optimism; (00:56:54) changes to approach to work after the pandemic, remote working, reshaping Oxford as a global university.
Georgina Ferry interviews Patrick Grant, Vesuvius Chair of Materials and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research), 25 January 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) PG's early studies in Materials Engineering in Nottingham, PhD at Oxford in the Materials Department, various posts at Oxford; (00:01:25) PG's motivations and big questions behind research; (00:02:06) scientific approaches taken during research, including simulations and experiments; (00:03:19) academic leadership role; (00:05:23) PG's first memory of COVID-19 in early 2020 and impact on the University; (00:07:50) the response of the University including shutting down during the Government-imposed lockdown; (00:12:00) Crisis Management team; (00:12:43) University finances and contingency planning as a result of lockdown; (00:18:30) support for staff working remotely during lockdown; (00:20:36) staff survey, funding for rebuilding research momentum; (00:22:47) supervision of research group, including inducting new researchers remotely; (00:25:39) Research Staff Hub; (00:31:10) researchers' decisions to pivot their research to COVID-19 and assistance from donors in supporting this research; (00:34:09) COVID-19 Research Response Fund; (00:34:55) Strategic Research Fund; (00:37:40) funded projects under the COVID-19 Research Response Fund; (00:41:10) communications with other universities; (00:42:29) return to on-site working; (00:46:19) digital working, work-life balance; (00:48:29) research collaboration between departments; (00:50:45) personal response to COVID-19; (00:52:02) changes to working hours during the pandemic and working from home; (00:53:16) involvement in COVID-19 safety regime, development of on-site working protocols; (00:55:15) PG's personal well-being during the pandemic; (00:56:26) changes to approach to work, pace of work and research at Oxford.
Georgina Ferry interviews Anna Petherick, Associate Professor in Public Policy, 20 December 2021. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) AP's early studies in Natural Sciences at Cambridge including population modelling and evolutionary genetics, role as a journalist in San Francisco working at the Economist in South America, MPhil and DPhil in Comparative Government at Oxford with Tim Power as supervisor; (00:02:46) research and journalism and how these complement one another; (00:03:50) AP's key drive behind academic research; (00:05:30) AP's first memories of COVID-19; (00:07:30) project working with Thomas Hale at the Blavatnik School, seminar and meetings to discuss this new project; (00:10:22) Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker; (00:13:20) the process involved, including using the coding manual; (00:15:44) research based upon the project; (00:17:30) research on behavioural and pandemic fatigue; (00:21:05) comparing countries for their different levels of trust in institutions and strangers; (00:23:56) funding for the project; (00:25:42) the collaborative nature of the research; (00:28:13) collaboration between institutions creating different datasets; (00:30:28) comparisons between countries or sub-state entities; (00:33:21) authoritarian countries and response to the pandemic; (00:35:12) economic ranking of countries and pandemic preparedness; (00:36:05) low and middle income countries that have performed well; (00:38:03) mitigator countries and eliminator countries; (00:40:04) direct influence on policy attributed to the project, including at the Cabinet Office; (00:41:11) the intensity of work during the pandemic; (00:43:00) consensus from the biomedical community; (00:47:49) recommendations and conclusions drawn from different policy approaches; (00:54:13) the need for a global exchange of data for climate change; (00:56:23) the personal impact of lockdown restrictions on work and research; (00:58:38) the level of support available for colleagues during the pandemic; (00:59:40) teaching both in-person and remotely with international students; (01:01:49) research questions of interest in the future; (01:02:25) future research interests, including the building back agenda; (01:05:03) opportunities afforded by this period for the empirical social sciences; (01:06:00) approach to work since the pandemic, including well-being, research practices and the credit system.
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.
Georgina Ferry interviews Erica Charters, Professor of the Global History of Medicine, 6 December 2021. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) EC's early studies in the history of disease, doctorate at Oxford on the history of medicine (under Professor Mark Harrison, with particular interest in disease during the Seven Years' War), lecture post at Oxford from 2009; (00:01:40) interest in disease and the human experience; (00:02:47) long-term perspectives on disease and historical perspectives including social, cultural, political; (00:05:15) historic pandemics and Charles Rosenberg article “What is an Epidemic?” written during the AIDS epidemic; (00:07:50) tools used to explore the narrative of an epidemic; (00:10:12) first memory of COVID-19 in early 2020; (00:11:42) EC's research work and collaboration with other historians on COVID-19 and the relevance of history in understanding the pandemic; (00:14:23) Centaurus journal contributions [published by the European Society for the History of Science], work of Margaret Pelling (particularly relating to cholera in the 19th century) and work of anthropologists in East Africa [Wenzel, Geissler and Prince]; (00:16:05) COVID-19 specific research, online workshops 'How Epidemics End' (in collaboration with Kristin Heitman); (00:19:01) examples of epidemics ending (including Historian Sam Cohn's perspective, mathematical modelling, anthropologist perspectives); (00:23:10) concepts of excess deaths in disease and warfare; (00:27:20) grant applications for projects; (00:29:00) colleagues involved in policy work in terms of social responses to disease and public health restrictions; (00:31:15) working with health and medical practitioners and interdisciplinary research; (00:32:49) EC's personal experience of COVID-19 and the impact on the academic and research community; (00:34:31) impact on the well-being of students and colleagues, including remote teaching; (00:36:30) positives of online working, including broadening audiences internationally, online reading groups; (00:38:00) competing theories and frameworks in medical science; (00:39:41) EC's personal reaction to the threat from COVID-19; (00:41:40) working long hours and returning to the office; (00:43:32) maintaining productiveness and wellbeing through taking on the project; (00:44:57) how future historians might frame the global response to COVID-19; (00:47:55) future research interests owing to the pandemic, including how these events are measured; (00:50:30) changes in approach to work as a result of COVID-19.
Georgina Ferry interviews Sir Andrew Pollard, Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity and Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, 3 December 2021. Topics discussed include (00:00:39) AP's early studies in medicine and route into the profession; (00:01:44) post-qualification work in A&E and training in paediatrics, PhD studies at St. Mary's, London and work in intensive care dealing with a new strain of meningitis in children, training in infectious disease in Canada and work in Oxford as part of the Oxford Vaccine Group; (00:05:30) work within the Oxford Vaccine Group including vaccine design and trials and current work on a vaccine for plague; (00:07:25) work on vaccine development for developing countries for infectious diseases, vaccine programmes on typhoid and pneumonia; (00:11:45) AP's first awareness of COVID-19 in early 2020, meeting of vaccine teams in Oxford to respond to the pandemic, work with Sarah Gilbert, Sandy Douglas and Teresa Lambe; (00:15:00) working together with different teams across the university; (00:16:30) clinical trials for the Oxford vaccine, recruitment of volunteers and the start of human trials in April 2020; (00:22:21) the commitment of vaccine trial volunteers; (00:23:05) Phase I trial and later phase trials; (00:24:30) effect of lockdown on the trial; (00:26:35) recruitment for Phase III trials nationally and internationally; (00:28:20) funding for trials in South Africa and Brazil; (00:28:58) partnership with AstraZeneca; (00:30:26) involvement with national bodies, including chairing the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation; (00:34:04) milestones in the trial process, including the first dose being administered, media attention, fake news, safety events; (00:40:48) the efficacy result of the vaccine trials; (00:45:32) AP's personal reaction to the results; (00:47:26) involvement in the vaccine roll out; (00:48:33) discussions relating to the nature of the vaccine as being not-for-profit, roll out to developing countries; (00:50:00) COVAX and distribution of the vaccine globally; (00:51:14) price of the vaccine; (00:52:29) experience of media scrutiny and first experience of a television interview; (00:54:30) social media and vaccine misinformation; (00:58:20) global vaccine equity; (01:00:00) vaccine boosters and new variants; (01:03:21) impact of the first lockdown on life and work, PPE provisions; (01:05:13) AP's personal response to the risk of COVID-19; (01:06:27) working hours and international collaboration; (01:07:30) personal well-being and resilience; (01:08:22) recreational activities; (01:09:01) team support and well-being; (01:10:14) knighthood for the Queen's Birthday Honours; (01:11:25) future research interests, including immune response and dosage and pandemic preparedness; (01:12:44) approach to work in the future. Note: the following section of audio is redacted (00:05:52) to (00:05:57).
Georgina Ferry interviews Catherine Green OBE, Head of the Clinical BioManufacturing Facility and Associate Professor in Chromosome Dynamics, 1 December 2021. Topics discussed include (00:00:34) CG's early interest in science and studies in Cambridge, London and Paris and work in cancer research; (00:02:08) Clinical BioManufacturing Facility [CBF]; (00:04:45) CG's first memory of the emergence of COVID-19 in January 2020 and meeting with Professor Sarah Gilbert in late January relating to production of a vaccine; (00:06:06) manufacture of medicines and past work in manufacturing vaccines for Professor Gilbert, particularly the MERS vaccine; (00:07:37) CG's first response to the possible coronavirus vaccine project; (00:09:01) the process to begin the design and manufacture of the adenovirus vector vaccine beginning with a piece of the virus DNA code provided by Professors Gilbert and [Teresa] Lambe; (00:15:07) amplification of the cell culture for the vaccine starting material; (00:18:10) manufacture and clinical trial capacity at the CBF, work with Professor Andy Pollard in up-scaling trials, collaboration with Italian-based manufacturing site Advent and the chartering of a private jet to transport batches of trial vaccine doses to the U.K.; (00:23:32) work on other vaccine projects, including Nipah virus; (00:24:16) CG's personal response to and experience of COVID-19, including sending her daughter to key workers' school; (00:27:20) well-being of colleagues and balancing the needs of team members; (00:29:51) CG's concern over family members catching the virus; (00:31:16) CG's personal self-care and details of remote well-being activities; (00:33:33) involvement with national bodies including JCVI and MRHA; (00:34:12) emerging variants and vaccine alteration and involvement with AstraZeneca; (00:36:16) experience of press interviews with national newspapers and public speaking; (00:39:20) efficacy outcome for the first clinical trial data; (00:43:26) writing, publication and reception of 'Vaxxers' book with Professor Gilbert; (00:47:44) recognition and honours, including the Queen's Birthday Honours 2021 list; (00:50:30) women in science and the proportion of women working on the vaccine at Oxford; (00:52:30) questions Green is interested in exploring in the future, including regulatory background and manufacturing process, expansion of CBF and the general advancement of biological medicine manufacturing in the U.K.; (00:56:22) impact of the pandemic on the team, including changes to working on-site and remotely; (00:58:20) intensive working and returning to normal hours; (00:59:21) CG's reaction to her personal contribution to the development of a global vaccine; (01:00:27) continued supply of the vaccine to developing countries.
Georgina Ferry interviews Richard Hobbs, Head of Department at the Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences and Nuffield Professor of Primary Care, 29 November 2021. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) RH's early training as a GP and interest in cardiology, academic posts in Birmingham and Oxford; (00:02:32) RH's passion for primary care and general practice; (00:03:48) methods to explore questions in general practice and research interest in epidemiology, big data, clinical trials; (00:07:18) the importance of research in primary care, funding; (00:09:00) crises in NHS and general practice, including a lack of healthcare professionals in the community; (00:11:20) interest and research work in cardiovascular disease, particularly heart failure and atrial fibrillation; (00:17:09) RH's first memory of the emergence of COVID-19 and response taken by the medical school, freezing research programmes, clinical trial proposals relating to COVID-19; (00:21:48) PRINCIPLE [Platform Randomised Trial of Treatments in the Community for Epidemic and Pandemic Illnesses] and RECOVERY [Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy] trials; (00:22:52) national screening programme on flu surveillance; (00:25:40) work by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and publication of rapid reviews; (00:26:47) COVID risk score; (00:30:00) treatments explored in drug trials (00:32:30) PANORAMIC [Platform Adaptive trial of Novel antivirals for early treatment of COVID-19 in the Community] platform; (00:34:00) TACKLE [AstraZeneca] monoclonal antibody trial; (00:38:00) ivermectin trial and controversy; (00:44:00) the scientific debate in response to restrictions on freedoms; (00:47:50) Delta variant and the impact on the NHS; (00:51:00) national collaborations and partnerships; (00:56:35) respiratory infection and cardiovascular disease; (00:57:10) long-term implications of the pandemic on general practice and the health service; (01:01:25) national and global policy-making; (01:05:54) personal impact of the pandemic on work life, ability to travel, attendance at online conferences; (01:09:50) well-being of departmental colleagues; (01:11:43) the University's contribution to the world with regards to the pandemic response and development of a vaccine; (01:15:03) personal risk felt from COVID-19; (01:18:15) areas of interest for future research, including long COVID and digital assets; (01:20:38) the impact of COVID-19 on RH's approach to work.
Georgina Ferry interviews Betty Raman, Senior Academic Cardiologist and Clinical Research Fellow, 16 November 2021. Topics discussed include (00:00:53) an overview of BR's early interest in medicine, medical training whilst based in Adelaide, Australia and specialism in cardiology; (00:03:46) MRI technology; (00:05:28) BR's first awareness of the emergence of COVID-19 and meetings with mentor Professor Stefan Neubauer; (00:09:51) ability to continue research during the early stages of COVID-19, with the focus shifting to the pandemic; (00:11:15) work on national follow-up studies including PHOSP-COVID [Post-hospitalisation COVID-19]; (00:19:59) flu and COVID-19 and post-viral syndromes; (00:22:51) community patients recovering from COVID-19 with lingering symptoms; (00:25:33) personal experience of leading a multi-centre study; (00:27:19) long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome; (00:29:22) experience of contracting COVID-19; (00:30:44) supply and shortages of PPE; (00:31:43) C-MORE study [Capturing the MultiORgan Effects of COVID-19]; (00:32:20) collaborative work on Xenon MRI research by professor Fergus Gleeson's lab; (00:35:11) changes in some institutions as a result of BR's work; (00:37:15) future research interests, particularly in terms of listening to the concerns of patients; (00:38:45) the importance of patient public engagement; (00:40:30) treatments being tested for patients with long COVID.
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.
Georgina Ferry interviews Paul Harrison, Professor of Psychiatry, 11 November 2021. Part one of interview. Topics discussed include (00:00:20) medical training, research interests; (00:01:10) techniques used to explore the question of the biological basis of serious mental illness; (00:02:10) PH's initial awareness of COVID-19; (00:02:51) practicalities of working during early COVID-19 restrictions; (00:03:44) repositioning of clinical work to focus on working with patients who had had COVID-19 and dealing with mental health sequelae; (00:06:35) the introduction of a 24/7 phone helpline and remote assessments for patients; (00:07:42) the problems patients presented with, particularly regarding the implications of lockdown and the pandemic; (00:08:43) research questions relating to the mental health of COVID-19 using real world data through an electronic health records network; (00:10:53) TriNetX and the collection of health data in the US; (00:12:50) work of trainee Max Taquet in analysing data; (00:13:20) first published papers relating to COVID-19 studies based upon database analysis; (00:16:03) study relating to connection between previous mental health diagnoses and COVID risk; (00:18:24) development of mental health illnesses after COVID-19 infections; (00:19:23) research into long COVID; (00:22:40) research into eating disorders as a result of the pandemic; (00:26:30) concerns relating to blood clots in relation to vaccines and utilising the TriNetX database to research risks of blood clots from both COVID-19 infection and vaccination; (00:29:38) funding of research; (00:31:01) changes to PH's personal life as a result of the pandemic, including working from home and conducting clinical work remotely; (00:32:02) the impact on students of Psychiatry and their involvement as volunteers; (00:33:29) medical student support and well-being and colleague well-being; (00:36:00) involvement in institutional preparation; (00:37:50) PH's personal well-being in relation to COVID research; (00:39:32) Government and authorities' handling of the pandemic; (00:41:25) involvement in follow-up COVID studies including PHOSP-COVID and COVID-CNS in the U.K.; (00:44:12) a study under review relating to the differences between catching COVID-19 when vaccinated and unvaccinated; (00:45:03) U.K. health database OpenSAFELY; (00:46:04) relationship between mental and physical health and the separation of physical and mental healthcare; (00:49:40) PH's participation on a voluntary basis in vaccine clinics.
Georgina Ferry interviews Derrick Crook, Professor of Microbiology, 9 November 2021. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) an overview of Professor Crook's early medical training and route into clinical microbiology; (00:03:41) DC's first awareness of COVID-19 and its emergence in early 2020, references to the disease in the media and its initial perceived connection to SARS and other infectious diseases; (00:06:46) changes to work as a result of COVID-19 and work in other countries, including South Africa on cholera outbreaks; (00:08:20) development of COVID-19 mutations [lineages] and transmissibility; (00:13:50) Modernising Medical Microbiology research group and its work; (00:18:05) DC's interest in other infectious diseases prior to emergence of COVID-19 and research into the carrying of germs by healthy people into hospitals, antibiotic resistance; (00:23:09) computational analysis of the genetic code of Tuberculosis and mining of the code to find signatures of resistance and mutations, determining whether an organism is going to be resistant to anti-tuberculosis drugs; (00:26:54) work with Sarah [Walker], Tim [Peto] and John Bell on the response to COVID-19 and the setting up of the wide-scale testing platform required across the country; (00:28:34) Porton Down swab screening, manufacturing and supply problems, safety and standard of tests; (00:29:31) the development of an ELISA test to measure antibodies through the blood samples of infected people, work with the Government and Office for National Statistics (epidemiological survey); (00:32:02) work with Yvonne Jones on the test; (00:36:15) genomic research funded by Oracle; (00:37:00) Scalable Pathogen Pipeline Platform; (00:44:00) partnership with Oracle providing cloud infrastructure and software to configure tools and up-scale sequencing; (00:45:45) LamPORE study in collaboration with Oxford Nanopore; (00:51:30) setting up of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing in routine lab with sequence going through the Oracle cloud platform, with results going to Government.
Georgina Ferry interviews Trisha Greenhalgh, Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences, 5 November 2021. Part one of interview. Topics discussed include (00:00:25) TG's early career training in diabetes and general practice, background in social sciences and public health, current work at Oxford since 2015, particularly co-leadership of a research team called IRIHS (Interdisciplinary Research in Health Sciences) with Sara Shaw; (00:03:10) doctorate study of unstable diabetes and field work, interest in the narratives of different patients and funding from the Wellcome Trust to collect stories; (00:05:30) conflicts of interdisciplinary research and working with conflicting ideas; (00:07:05) international work with Chinese academics, including Chinese Academic Medicine Course and planned visit from Chinese academic group from Guangdong in March 2020 [which was cancelled due to emergence of COVID-19], collaboration with Chinese contacts particularly relating to the United Kingdom's preparedness; (00:13:01) research on remote consultations, particularly work relating to video GP consultations stemming from 2009 (00:16:30) NHS England, NHS Improvement request for assistance with moving to remote consultations and digital triage, work to produce guidance and standard operating procedures for practices; (00:19:00) the day the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organisation on 11 March 2020 and changes to TG's personal and work life; (00:20:40) pandemic impact on GP practices and front-line healthcare staff; (00:25:15) online focus groups with GP's, advanced nurse practitioners, and paramedics and discussions of their experiences of working with COVID-19 patients; (00:27:35) the writing and publication on 25 March 2020 of a rapid article [Assessing Possible Acute COVID Remotely] for the British Medical Journal on how to assess people in the community using telephone or video consultations; (00:30:04) research funding and projects in response to the pandemic; (00:32:05) Remote-By-Default study; (00:37:34) work with Brendan Delaney from Imperial College, London and Simon de Lusignan on a component of the RBD study and follow up with c.12,000 patients through data linkage; (00:39:08) the importance of oximetry data in assessing patients; (00:43:48) the collective response to the pandemic among the research community; (00:45:00) home life and set-up to deal with COVID response remotely; (00:48:00) Twitter as a data source and way of connecting with people, work with Florian Stiegler and joining a COVID-19 researchers group to share knowledge globally in real time; (00:51:02) social media as a medium for research and the recruiting of patients; (00:53:00) masks and airborne transmission of coronaviruses; (01:02:40) political and ideological views encountered relating to mask wearing; (01:06:45) aerosol science and a lack of experts working in this field within bodies including Public Health England, World Health Organisation and the CDC in America, collaboration with Mustafa Ozbilgin and Damien Contandriopoulos on a paper on heterodoxy and orthodoxy in terms of views taken up by organisations; (01:12:26) work with Kim Prather, Jose-Luis Jimenez on an article for The Lancet '10 scientific reasons why we know that the SARS-CoV-2 is airborne' in April 2021; (01:14:40) the death of TG's mother and the direct impact of this event on her work; (01:19:00) the influence of TG's work on masks and airborne transmission on policy decisions; (01:21:45) evidence-based medicine; (01:25:18) TG's personal experience of COVID-19; (01:27:07) experience of working through the pandemic; (01:31:47) emotional well-being and collaboration with Ninna Meier; (01:37:03) the COVID-19 safety regime at Oxford; (01:40:12) public profile and experience of the media and social media; (01:45:10) association with policy-making bodies; (01:47:03) future research interests and projects. Note: this episode contains language that may be distressing.