Peter trained in medicine at University College London and went on to specialise in emerging and epidemic prone infectious diseases. Over the last 20 years he has led research on a wide range of emerging and epidemic infections, including SARS, avian influenza, Ebola, Lassa fever, plague and COVID-19.
He lived and worked in Southeast Asia for 11 years, working initially for the World Health Organisation in Vietnam before establishing a research centre at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi in 2006. The research centre is still flourishing and in 2016 he was awarded the People’s Health Medal by the Government of Vietnam.
Peter returned to the United Kingdom in 2014 to set up an epidemic disease research group at the University of Oxford and is Director of the recently established Pandemic Sciences Centre. He is also Executive Director of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC), a consortium of international, national and local research networks whose research activities span 134 countries worldwide, and is also the coordinator of the African coaLition for Epidemic Research, Response and Training (ALERRT), a sub-Saharan Africa consortium on clinical research for epidemic-prone infections, with 21 partner institutions and representation across 25 sub-Saharan Africa countries. He is a member of the UK Government Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and chairs the New and Emergency Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group.
Peter co-leads the RECOVERY trial of treatments for COVID-19.
He was knighted for Services to Medical Research in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday honours list.