Calum Semple

Professor Semple has centred his research on mitigation of severe virus disease outbreaks since 1989, with a focus on diagnostics, clinical characterisation, and clinical trials. He played a pivotal role in founding the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC). His extensive career has involved leading studies on various diseases, including HIV, Bronchiolitis, human metapneumovirus, Pandemic Influenza, Ebola (EVD and Survivor studies), Monkeypox, COVID-19, and Acute Severe Hepatitis in Children, often in challenging conditions. Notably, he maintains an active clinical role at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.

 

In 2014, Professor Semple was appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess Sierra Leone's readiness for action research during the Ebola outbreak. He led a collaborative effort involving investigators from the University of Sierra Leone, staff at Connaught Hospital in Freetown, and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces Joint Medical Unit, conducting the first clinical trial in Sierra Leone since the civil war ended in 2002. Their contributions were recognised in 2016 when Professor Semple and his team were awarded the Queen's Ebola Medal for their service in West Africa from 2014 to 2016. Additionally, in 2019, he received a Commonwealth Association Award for his work with Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone.

 

Beyond research, Professor Semple has senior advisory roles, participating in the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) for the UK's response to COVID-19 and the New Emerging Respiratory Viral Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG). He was also a former member of the WHO Scientific Technical Advisory Committee for Ebola Emergencies (STAC-EE). His significant contributions to public health were acknowledged when he was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2020 for his role in the COVID-19 response. In 2022, he achieved the honour of being elected as a Distinguished Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health.

 

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Professor Calum Semple is Scottish, schooled in Glasgow and Musselburgh. He studied Clinical Virology in London gaining a PhD for his thesis on measuring Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the cause of the then newly emerging disease AIDS. He then followed his girlfriend Deborah to Oxford to marry her and study medicine at the local university. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1995.

 

Calum went on to specialise in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine while continuing his research in severe viral infections. He won a National Clinician Scientist Award in 2002 allowing him to dedicate half his time to conducting medical research at our University of Liverpool, and work as a respiratory doctor at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

 

His research then was focussed on a disease called bronchiolitis which results in one thousand babies in England having life-threatening respiratory disease. This disease has now surpassed malaria as being the worst global killer of children under one-year-old.

 

Calum was appointed Senior Clinical Lecturer in Child Health at the University of Liverpool by the Vice Chancellor’s Rising Star Award in 2006. He was seconded to work with the government in 2008 on Pandemic Influenza Planning. With immaculate timing, there was a flu pandemic which came to England in three waves over 2009 and 2010.

 

His experience in providing clinical advice to the UK government during the pandemic led him to be asked by the WHO to lead outbreak investigations in foreign countries. In 2014 the WHO asked him to lead a mission to Sierra Leone in the escalating phase of the Ebola outbreak, specifically with the purpose of assessing the country’s capacity to conduct research to treat this awful disease.

 

He led a consortium of investigators from the University of Sierra Leone, the Connaught Hospital Freetown, and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces Joint Medical Unit along with international partners to trial convalescent plasma as a therapy for Ebola Virus Disease. Together they ran the first clinical trial in Sierra Leone since the civil war ended in 2002.

 

His research activity in Sierra Leone continued after the end of the Ebola outbreak with the focus shifting to study the problems of Ebola Survivors. His team published a seminal paper describing Post Ebola Syndrome.

 

For his leadership of medical research activities on the ground in Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016 he and his team were awarded the Queen’s Ebola Medal for Service in West Africa. In 2019 he received a Commonwealth Award for his continuing work with Ebola Survivors.

 

He was a regular participant on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) for the UK COVID-19 response and their New Emerging Respiratory Viral Treats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), and a former member of the WHO Scientific Technical Advisory Committee for Ebola Emergencies (STAC-EE).  He was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020 for his role in the COVID-19 response, and in 2022 elected Distinguished Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health.