I am an infectious diseases physician and researcher, with over 20 years of experience working clinically and/or in research in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South East Asia, and the UK (including in a medical tent in a muddy field at Glastonbury Festival).
I am passionate about and committed to research, policy, and advocacy addressing the social determinants and consequences of tuberculosis and poverty-related diseases, including through interventions co-developed with affected communities.
Research focus
Implementation science, mixed-methods research, and trials addressing the social determinants and consequences of tuberculosis and poverty-related diseases.
Research areas
- Deputy Director of the LSTM Centre for Tuberculosis, Department of Clinical Sciences
- Tuberculosis (including access to diagnostics and care, catastrophic costs, and co-developed social protection and psycho-socioeconomic support interventions)
- Social epidemiology
- Mixed-methods research
- Implementation Science
- Randomised controlled trials of multi-faceted interventions for people with TB and poverty-related diseases and their households, to improve TB, health and broader socioeconomic outcomes
- HIV
- Tropical Medicine, Emerging Infections (Mpox)
- Evidence synthesis including scoping reviews and systematic reviews
Centres and Units
Consortia, collaborations, and partnerships
I am a co-lead of the LIV-TB cross-campus TB research and education collaboration and Deputy Director of the new "LSTM Centre for Tuberculosis Research" formed in 2024.
I am Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on:
- the UNITAID-funded Start 4 All consortium examining novel TB diagnostics and diagnostic combinations and pathways to find the missed millions. This project was the brainchild of our dear, late colleague and friend, Professor Luis Cuevas, whom we will always remember and who continues to inspire us.
- the ASCOT trial of socioeconomic support for people with TB in Nepal funded by the Medical Research Council, UK
- co-PI with Dr Celso Khosa on the SAFEST-MDR-TB-1 study examining the acceptability and feasibility of video-observed therapy (VOT) in Mozambique funded by the Medical Research Foundation, UK
- co-PI with Dr Ahmad Fuady of the TB-CAPS study to co-develop, implement, and evaluate a psychosocial support intervention to reduce stigma amongst people with TB in Indonesia, funded by the Medical Research Council Public Health Intervention Development (PHIND), UK
- I am "Socioeconomic interventions" lead on the LIGHT consortium that is aiming to support policy and practice in transforming gendered pathways to health for people with TB in urban settings.
Networks
I am a co-founder and active member of the international Health and Social Protection Action Research and Knowledge Sharing network "SPARKS"
I am an active member of and contributor to the Social Science and Health Innovation for Tuberculosis network.
Teaching
I am co-lead on the Tuberculosis module of the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the Diploma in Tropical Nursing, and I teach on Masters in Public Health and Masters in Tropical Medicine modules at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK
I have taught on the Qiagen Global TB Summit, the London Advanced TB Course, Medicins San Frontieres LEAP Course, the the Health and Human Rights Course of the University of Geneva, and the Tropical Medicine course run by la Sociedad Peruana de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Tropicales, la Sociedad Peruana de Neumología, el Ministerio de Salud del Perú and SES, in Peru.
I have had previous teaching roles at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK (in Social epidemiology), and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden (in Global Public Health)
I continue to be a mentor for the Social Mobility Foundation, which is a wonderful charity that supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds towards their chosen professional careers.
I have successfully supervised or co-supervised 8 PhD students and 15 MSc students to date, the majority of whom have published their research widely and moved onto post-doctoral or post-masters research and clinical research careers.
I am an editor of Blackwell's Lecture Notes in Tropical Medicine 8th Edition due for publication release in July 2025
Further relevant expertise, professional memberships, awards
- Co-founder and Deputy Director of the LSTM Centre for TB Research, 2023
- "Keynote Lecture" at Leibniz Center Infection (LCI), Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany
- Medical Research Foundation UK's Dorothy Temple Cross International Tuberculosis Collaboration Award and Meade International Travel Fellowship, 2022 and 2023
- Royal Society of Medicine Respiratory Section Trainee Prize, January 2021 (first supervisor to Dr Louisa Chenciner)
- Winner of Academy of Medical Sciences and Lancet UK Young Investigator Award, February 2017
- Delivered prestigious "Linacre Lecture" by invitation at Advanced Medicine Conference, Royal College of Physicians, 2016
- Symposium co-ordinator, chair, and presenter Union World Lung Health Conferences 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020
- US-CDC and Union "TB Late Breaker" invited presentation, Union World Lung Health Conference, Cape Town 2015
Book chapters, book editorials, and handbooks
- Beeching N, Gill G, Mwandumba H, Wingfield T (Editors). Lecture Notes in Tropical Medicine. Blackwell Publishers (due to be published July 2025)
- Wingfield T, Sethi C, Edwards S. Chapter 7, Genitourinary medicine and HIV. In Medicine for MRCP (edited by Rupa Bessant, Jonathan Birns, and Charlotte Ford), Oxford University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780198779506
- Garcia-Baena A, Siroka A, Wingfield T. Tuberculosis patient cost surveys: a handbook. WHO, Geneva, 2015. ISBN 978-92-4-151352-4
- Contributor to Framework for collaborative action on tuberculosis and comorbidities. WHO, Geneva, 2022. ISBN: 978-92-4-005505-6
- Contributor to Guidance on social protection for people affected by tuberculosis. WHO, Geneva, 2024. ISBN: 978-92-4-008932-7
- I am a consultant for the World Health Organization on Catastrophic Costs of TB and Social Protection for People with TB. I am also a consultant for the Stop TB Partnership.
- Viney K, Wingfield T, Kuksa L, Lonnroth K. Tuberculosis in hard-to-reach groups. ERS Monographs. doi: 10.1183/2312508X.erm8218
Public Engagement
- Since March 2020, I have engaged strongly to give evidence-based Covid-19 advice locally (Radio Merseyside) and globally, reaching >600m people in >30 countries (Source: Meltwater, September 2021). The Guardian newspaper, UK, cited me as one of the "experts who have guided the British public through coronavirus outbreak"
- (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/08/five-coronavirus-experts...).
- Wingfield T. Helping people with TB to avoid the medical poverty trap. The Conversation and Independent, 2018
- Wingfield T, Taegtmeyer M. Healthcare workers and coronavirus: behind the stiff upper lip, we are highly vulnerable. The Conversation and the Independent, 2020
- Wingfield T, Taegtmeyer M. We will not forget our colleagues who have died: two doctors on the frontline of the second wave. The Conversation (including podcast) and the Independent, 2020
- Wingfield T, Taegtmeyer M. COVID-19: 2020 was horrendous for healthcare workers – early 2021 was even worse. The Conversation, 2021
- Wingfield T, Taegtmeyer M. COVID is unlikely to be eliminated – here's how we'll treat it in the future. The Conversation, 2021
- Wingfield T, Potter J. Russia's invasion of Ukraine poses a threat to the control of MDR-TB in Europe and the world. The Conversation, 2022
Podcasts and Webinars
- Wingfield T, Fouad Kamara R. Social and health factors associated with adverse treatment outcomes among people with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Sierra Leone: a national, retrospective cohort study. Lancet Global Health podcast, 2022
- Wingfield T, Taegtmeyer M. Two doctors describe working on the frontline of Liverpool's second wave. Podcast from The Conversation, 2020
- Wingfield T, Bennett C, Clement M. Containing COVID: comparing pandemic responses in Australia and the UK. Live podcast and webinar from The Conversation, 2020
- Wingfield T and panel. LEAP Programme Panel: Approaches & challenges for adapting humanitarian responses during COVID-19. MSF, University of Manchester, LSTM, 2020
- Wingfield T, Lopez M. Burnout among healthcare workers during COVID-19. LSTM, 2021
Public Engagement Presentations
I have done two public engagement presentations in collaboration with Clare Bebb and Elli Wright of the LSTM Communications team. In 2019, I did a Pint of Science on addressing the medical poverty trap and, in 2021, I did a "Head Talk" at Carnival Brewing on medicine and the media during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Social Mobility Foundation
I have been an active mentor on the Social Mobility Foundation program through LSTM. I successfully mentored my first A-level candidate in 2020/2021 and continued annually since then.
Editorial and Reviewer Responsibilities
- PLOS One (Editorial Board and Academic Editor 2017- and Reviewer 2014-)
- PLOS Medicine (Reviewer 2023-)
- Lancet (Reviewer 2022-)
- New England Journal of Medicine (Reviewer 2021-)
- TB Modelling and Analysis Consortium (Reviewer 2018-)
- National Institute of Health Research (Reviewer 2017-)
- Lancet Infectious Diseases (Reviewer 2019-)
- Lancet Public Health (Reviewer 2018-)
- Lancet Global Health (Reviewer 2016-)
- British Medical Journal (Reviewer 2012-)
- BMC Health Services Research Journal (Reviewer 2018-)
- Emerging Infectious Diseases (Reviewer 2016-)
- Journal of Royal Society of Medicine (Reviewer 2015-)
- Infectious Diseases of Poverty (Reviewer 2015-)
- Tropical Medicine and International Health (Reviewer 2014-)
- International Journal of TB and Lung Disease (Reviewer 2014-)
- Epidemiology and Infection (Reviewer 2014-)
- BMC Public Health (Reviewer 2014-)
- Journal of the Neurological Sciences (Reviewer 2013-)
- Medical Science (Reviewer 2018-)
- International Journal of STD & AIDS (Reviewer 2012-)
- British Journal of Nursing (Reviewer 2012-)