Eleni Nastouli

Eleni Nastouli (born Ελένη Ναστούλη, Greece) is a Greek clinical virologist who works at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) and Great Ormond Street Hospital. At UCLH, Nastouli leads the Advanced Pathogen Diagnostics Unit, where she develops technologies for genome sequencing as well as studying how viruses are transmitted around hospitals. During the COVID-19 pandemic Nastouli led an investigation into infection rates amongst healthcare workers.

Early life and education

Nastouli is from Greece. She studied medicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She moved to the United Kingdom, where she specialised in paediatrics in Manchester.

Research and career After completing her training at the University of Manchester, Nastouli joined Imperial College London, where she trained in clinical virology. She moved to University College London in 2009. At University College London Nastouli leads the Advanced Pathogen Diagnostics Unit as well as the antenatal infectious diseases clinic. She has investigated novel strategies to test for and treat HIV, Zika and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Nastouli is the virology consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

In her capacity as lead of the Advanced Pathogen Diagnostics Unit, Nastouli uses information from genome sequencing to improve patient outcomes. Nastouli was made clinical lead for InfeCtion respONse through vIrus genomiCs (ICONIC), a programme that developed a mechanism to sequence the genome of viral pathogens as part of routine National Health Service services. ICONIC made us of next-generation sequencing in combination with electronic health records to allow physicians and policy makers to visualise outbreaks. The electronic health records provide information about a patient's journey through hospital, which makes it possible to contact-trace people who are infected with a virus. In 2018 ICONIC was awarded the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Healthcare Technology award.

Alongside her role in ICONIC, Nastouli is a member of i-sense, a consortium that looks to identify and prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases. The consortium will support communities in low and middle-income countries, where early detection and diagnosis can transform patient outcomes. i-Sense makes use of a simple diagnostic tool that is connected to mobile phones, sending information wirelessly to healthcare systems. Her programme, Evaluation to Inform Response Study (SAFER), will involve frequent testing as well as monitoring of healthcare worker behavior. She hopes that SAFER will help to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak, as well as inform future pandemic management strategies.

Selected publications

Awards and honours Nastouli is a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (FRCPCH) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath).