As well as working in tuberculosis, some of you will know the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) is one of my passions, so it was nice to have The i newspaper reach out yesterday to talk about EBV and lupus. We really need to be getting more impetus behind EBV work. inews.co.uk/news/autoimm...

Fancy a PhD at the interface between one of the biggest existential threats ever faced by humanity and tuberculosis? Then come apply!

The phrase that's been going round my head for several months? One impossible thing at a time.

ISEG, established in 1972, conducts studies on the epidemiology and control of major public health issues, with a strong focus on intervention studies and real-world applications. www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/cen...

ISEP brings together collaborating institutions to strengthen research capacity in applied medical statistics in sub-Saharan Africa, improving health outcomes through training, and a variety of capacity strengthening initiatives. www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/cen...

👋 Hello Bluesky! We’re the International Statistics & Epidemiology Group (ISEG) and the MRC International Statistics & Epidemiology Partnership (ISEP) - two connected groups working to improve global health through applied medical statistics and epidemiology.

And I thought we prided ourselves on being a quantitatively strong institute.

Moderna are hiring a summer intern for 2026 to work on their latent viruses programme. I'm totally jealous of anyone who gets this post. 😆 www.linkedin.com/posts/jdiazd...

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, and found out that the Nazis did tuberculosis treatment-related experiments on prisoners there. A horrible part of the history of work in tuberculosis that I was not previously aware of.

This time yesterday, I did not know how to make maps in Stata, nor that I needed to learn. This time today, I'm able to make maps in Stata. #CelebratingTheSmallWins

As the science heats up re: future anti-EBV vaccines, delighted to have Marisa Muckian's paper on age at infection, data gaps, and how countries can provide proxy data for one another published. More coming, watch this space! gh.bmj.com/content/10/8...

Delighted that our first paper from Tanzania on the temporal complexity of non-adherence to anti-TB treatment came out today- we started this collaboration in difficult circumstances back in covid times, building our relationships from scratch via videocall; I'm so delighted at how far we've come.

It's honestly one of the great joys and privileges of my existence that I get to work with motivated, smart, and caring people from all around the world at this juncture of my life, hear their stories, and experience what's meaningful to them. Last week I was in Sabah, Malaysia with people from

You know it's serious when I get the big bits of paper out.

After whining today that a really useful piece of functionality for EndNote would be if you could import a PDF into it and then it could extract the reference, I have now discovered that EndNote can, in fact, already do this. 😶😳😭

On an entirely different note, I don't think Sophie Lloyd and Lzzy Hale meant to write a banging metal/rock anthem about the imposter syndrome that I often feel in academia, but there you go. www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_dk...

I've been having some really interesting conversations recently about our future AI teaching. I've personally been finding AI incredibly helpful for an array of tasks, but my experience means it's much easier for me to build in failsafes. How do we teach checks and balances to students who've

Help us understand the impact of USG funding cuts on TB research and inform advocacy to save important research initiatives! TAG is asking scientists to submit information on terminated awards and at-risk funding applications via a secure, encrypted form, here: taglink.info/FundingCuts

In things I adore about the modern-day world, Babymetal (Japanese kawaii metal) have done a joint release with Bloodywood (Indian folk/rap metal with a great feminist slant). Thank you, internationalism www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxRl...

It's one of those mornings where you need to share the fur out of your notebook before you can start working. (Yes, yes- I still use paper notebooks!)

So excited to be starting my R training with a 3 hour course today. There's several things I'm looking forward to as we revamp our master's teaching over the next few years, and being forced to learn R is definitely one of them 😆

As much as I laud our contractors for the extensive research they must have put in to create the evidence base that led to them warning us only about the dangers of men working overhead, I felt a more equitable version was called for.

Very much enjoyed this Target Trial Emulation event today, and I met @pwgtennant.bsky.social for the first time in person! Looks to think about and hopefully implement.

Does anyone happen to know of any studies that have done repeated salivary sampling of a cohort of people (the denser the better, ditto over months/a year better than over a week) where those samples are in storage and usable for something else? Re-posts appreciated, many thanks.

DEADLINE for TAG + WHO's Community Perceptions and Preferences Regarding Long-Acting Technologies for TB Treatment and Prevention Survey is Monday, June 23 at 5 PM NYC. taglink.info/m/TBLATs

Sincere thanks to @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social- I finished 'Everything is Tuberculosis' today and it reminded me why I get up in the mornings and strive to do what I do. A Paul Farmer quote appeared on here a few days ago: "We do not have the luxury of being pessimistic on other people's behalf."

The absolute gift of being asked to review a paper that it turns out you totally love. 🎉

We're looking for disabled or neurodivergent STEM role models! Especially in engineering but all fields welcome. Let’s show that STEM is for everyone. Apply: forms.gle/eHzFwm9G779y... 📩 [email protected] #DisabledInSTEM #NeurodivergentVoices #STEMStories

It was my last appointment as a clinical trial participant today! It's been fascinating to see research from the other side- can't wait to be unmasked and discover what mpox vaccine dose I had (or whether it was a placebo).

One of the things I love about running our stats module is the number of people who thank us for running our stats module.

Yep. Race a social construct. Massive NIH study challenges use of race as a proxy for genetic ancestry www.statnews.com/2025/06/05/n... Lead author: “all communication related to the paper is under review by HHS, and we do not have approval to participate in press interviews.” Sigh.

It is one of the great joys of being here that there's a man called Gareth to whom I can send my DMPs when I'm applying for grants and he gives me detailed, expert, critique on them and sets me on the right path. Hats off to Gareth.

Samurai Bear @carlrmay.bsky.social?

Second time's the charm- after trying out the habit and not managing to stick to it last year, this month I've been winning with the @casualinfer.bsky.social podcasts as an easy & informative way to fit CPD into my life. Big thanks to @epiellie.bsky.social & @lucystats.bsky.social!

Delighted to have caught up with @ideberitlange.bsky.social this week- more than a decade since our MScs @lshtm.bsky.social; future project plans in the pipeline 🤞

Roll on three months- we repeated our exciting Directly Observed Therapy session online and the recording is now available. www.currytbcenter.ucsf.edu/trainings/ar...

In one of the greatest compliments of my career, one of my colleages commented today 'the epi revolution moves forward when you are present'. Totally filing this one away, and taking it out to look at it next time I'm feeling demoralised.

I still remember when one of our stats students cheerfully told me they'd never need to clean data, because that's what data managers were for. They'd only need to analyse it. The absolute horror at the thought of someone never even learning and all the traps they were setting up for the future. 😱😱😱

I frequently get asked by our statistics students and my PhD students: what resources can I read to learn data cleaning? I tend to unhelpfully say that people learn on the job, partly because each dataset is so unique it would be erroneous to try to apply the same hard and fast rules to everything.

Picked this up again after several months. Loved it, finished it. Recommended.

I was about to say that I'd like to go back to my earlier self and tell her how long it takes for anything remotely seen as disruptive to get taken seriously and used, but I'd not want to depress her 😆

It’s Mary Anning’s birthday, so time to share @katebeaton.bsky.social’s brilliant cartoon again.

We're recruiting - one in-person (Edinburgh) & one online (anywhere) focus group We're interested to hear from folk who have experience of depression, and opinions on future possible new treatments. You can express interest in the group via this form: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

Gave in and bought this, as it seemed odd for a TB researcher not to!

when you read all the actions Trump has taken against Harvard together it's pretty scary Authoritarian is the only word for it. thehill.com/homenews/edu...

The devastation at the heart of US health research continues. I wish I could gather up everyone and give them a huge hug. No, I don't- I wish I somehow had a solution that reversed all this!

Message to the husband: Apologies, I know I'm working from home today and you're not and thus cooking was in my domain, but the statistics were more important.

ECR Research Fellowships available at Imperial... more info here: www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and... Happy to chat about areas of research linked to my own.

Classic moments in the life of Helen. Brain: I really need to go pee/get a drink/get food, so I'll do that and then come back to this code more able to concentrate. *proceeds to then not move, and get deep into code, for a further hour*