The Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (ITD) was formed in August 1997 and encompasses all of the laboratory-based research in the school as well as that on the clinical and epidemiological aspects of infectious and tropical diseases. The Faculty is organised into three large departments and has over 500 members of staff. The range of disciplines represented in the faculty is very broad and inter-disciplinary research is a feature of much of its activity.

The spectrum of diseases studied is wide and there are major research groups working on topics which include:

  • HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases
  • malaria and other vector borne diseases
  • tuberculosis
  • vaccine development and evaluation
  • vector biology and disease control

There is close interaction between scientists in different research teams. The Faculty has overseas links which provide a basis for field studies and international collaborations in developed and developing countries. Funding for research in the Faculty comes from around 45 funding organisations and agencies. The Faculty of Public Health and Policy has over 250 members of staff, including epidemiologists, public health physicians, economists, policy analysts, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, psychologists, statisticians and mathematicians. The Faculty's research programmes, with an annual spend of over £7m, focus on public health problems of importance both globally and in the UK, and build on an extensive network of collaborations.

The research programmes exploit multidisciplinary and multi-method approaches, generate new knowledge for specific contexts and test transferability to different settings, and engage with policymakers and providers of health care to ensure research is relevant and translated into practice.

The Faculty hosts School Centres in the areas of History in Public Health, Research on Drugs and Health Behaviours, Spatial Analysis in Public Health, Global Change and Health, Health of Societies in Transition (ECOHOST), and Gender Violence and Health. In addition, staff participate in Centres based in other departments, notably the Malaria Centre and the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Disease.

thumb|right|The coin on the left from [[Selinus inspired the school's logo]]

The seal of LSHTM is based on a coin from the archeological site Selinus, Sicily struck in 466 BC. It was designed by the sculptor and medallist Allan Gairdner Wyon. It shows two Greek gods associated with health – Apollo, the god of prophecy, music and medicine, and his sister Artemis, goddess of hunting and chastity, and comforter of women in childbirth – in a horse-drawn chariot. Artemis is driving while her brother the great archer is shooting arrows. The fruitful date palm was added to indicate the tropical activities of the school but also has a close connection with Apollo and Artemis: when their mother Leto gave birth to them on the island of Delos, miraculously a palm sprang up to give her shade in childbirth.

Asclepius, Apollo's son, was the god of ancient Greek medicine, and was frequently shown holding a staff entwined with a snake. Snakes were used in this healing cult to lick the affected part of the patient. Significantly Asclepius' five daughters were Hygeia (the goddess of healthiness), Panacea (the healer of all ailments), Iaso (recuperation from illness); Aceso (the healing process); and Aegle (radiant good health). Asclepius' staff with a snake coiled round it (known as a symbol of the medical professions) was placed at the base of the seal to emphasise the medical interests of the school. The seal was redesigned in 1990 by Russell Sewell Design Associates, and is retained today within the current LSHTM logo.

Academic profile

Admissions

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|3,541

|3,928

|3,134

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|Offer Rate (%) and Ethnicity

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|British White

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Admissions data from LSHTM can be obtained through Freedom of Information requests. The school's admissions are competitive, with an offer rate of 60.3% and a yield of 40.1% in 2020/2021. The rates vary by program, with the most recent year showing the MSc Medical Statistics having the lowest offer rate at 49.2% and MSc Control of Infectious Diseases having the highest yield at 55.1%.

  • Antimicrobial Resistance Centre
  • Centre for Epidemic Preparedness and Response (CEPR)
  • Centre for Evaluation
  • Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
  • Centre for Global Chronic Conditions
  • Centre for Global Mental Health
  • Centre for History in Public Health
  • Centre for Maternal Adolescent Reproductive & Child Health (MARCH)
  • Centre for Statistical Methodology
  • Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases (CMMID)
  • Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health
  • Global Health Economics Centre
  • Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre
  • Malaria Centre
  • TB Centre
  • The Applied Genomics Centre
  • Vaccine Centre

LSHTM submitted a total of 314 staff across 2 units of assessment to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment. In the REF results 42% of the school's submitted research was classified as world-leading (4*), 37% as internationally excellent (3*), 20% as internationally recognised (2*) and 1% as nationally recognised (1*), giving an overall GPA of 3.20. In rankings produced by Times Higher Education based upon the REF results LSHTM was ranked 10th overall for GPA and 46th on research power (which is based on publication volume). In the 2008 exercise, LSHTM ranked 3rd overall for GPA and 59th on research power.

Degrees

All three Faculties offer a wide range of MSc courses and Research Degrees leading to a University of London degree of DrPH, MPhil and PhD. The school also offers a Joint PhD Programme for Global Health in partnership with Nagasaki University. Courses are delivered both face-to-face in London and via distance learning in collaboration with the University of London International Programmes. The school also offers access to both free and paid short courses, as well as three Professional Diplomas and an executive programme. Currently, the university does not offer any undergraduate degrees and is therefore one of the few postgraduate-only institutions around the world.

Rankings

Due to the absence of undergraduate degrees, LSHTM is not included in the overall university rankings of QS and Times Higher Education, although some subject-specific rankings are available.

In the 2024 ARWU Ranking for the subject of Public Health, LSHTM ranked 2nd globally behind only Harvard University.

For the 2025–2026 US News Best Global Universities Rankings, LSHTM ranked 2nd in Public, Environmental and Occupational Health, 3rd in Infectious Diseases, and 23rd in the world for Social Sciences and Public Health. The award recognises organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to improving global health. In 2016, LSHTM won the University of the Year award from Times Higher Education for its response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014 and 2015. It won the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2017 for the same reason and won another Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2021 for its work on COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness.

Donald Reid Medal

The Donald Reid Medal is awarded triennially by the LSHTM in recognition of distinguished contributions to epidemiology.

George Macdonald Medal

The George Macdonald Medal is awarded triennially together with Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene to recognise outstanding contributions to tropical hygiene.

Affiliations and partnerships

LSHTM's international profile has led to extensive collaboration with institutions around the world, including in many low- and middle-income countries. From 2014 to 2018, 78% of its publications had been written with an international partner and 65% were written with collaborators over 5,000 kilometres removed from London. International collaborators were most often based in Europe, North America, or Africa. The school is also a member of various global health networks.

The school has various official partner institutions including Nagasaki University, National University of Singapore, Public Health Foundation of India, Sichuan University, Fiocruz, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, KU Leuven, and various African research institutes.

Moreover, it offers a Professional Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene through a collaboration with Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Makerere University, University of Washington, and Johns Hopkins University. It also offers joint master's programmes in Health Policy, Planning and Financing with the London School of Economics, Global Mental Health with King's College London, and One Health as well as Veterinary Epidemiology with the Royal Veterinary College.

The LSHTM also has partnerships with corporate entities. These include Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Reckitt, Médecins Sans Frontières, Wellcome Trust, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Notable people

Notable alumni

<gallery class="center">

File:Mukhisa Kituyi, Houlin Zhao, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus with Sophia - AI for Good Global Summit 2018 (41223188035) (cropped).jpg| Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organization

File:Austin Bradford Hill.jpg| Austin Bradford Hill, pioneering epidemiologist and statistician

File:Carissa Etienne 2015.jpg|Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization

File:Harry Hoogstraal.jpg|Harry Hoogstraal, renowned entomologist and parasitologist

File:J Donald Millar.jpg|J. Donald Millar, former director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

File:Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti.jpg|Matshidiso Moeti, regional director of the WHO Regional Office for Africa

File:Max Theiler nobel.jpg|Max Theiler, winner of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

File:S960 - Chris Whitty - Chief Scientific Adviser (cropped).png|Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England

</gallery>

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Lise Wilkinson and Anne Hardy, Prevention and cure: the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: a 20th century quest for global public health, Kegan Paul Limited, 2001, .
  • G.D. Hale Carpenter joined the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and took the DM in 1913 with a dissertation on the tsetse fly (Glossina palpalis) and sleeping sickness. He published: A Naturalist on Lake Victoria, with an Account of Sleeping Sickness and the Tse-tse Fly; 1920. T.F. Unwin Ltd, London; Biodiversity Archive.
  • LSHTM Research Online
  • Chronology
  • The History of Higher Education in Bloomsbury and Westminster London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine entry
  • London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine student lists
  • Bug Central: inside the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine