Gail Davey

Gail Davey OBE is a professor of epidemiology at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, UK. Her work focuses on Neglected Tropical Diseases, particular podoconiosis.

Career Davey specialises in neglected tropical diseases, especially ones that involve the skin. After taking an MBBChir degree in medicine, she trained in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, gaining Masters and MD degrees. Her work was initially about the causes and origin of asthma.

In 2005, her research began to focus on podoconiosis, taking a broad view of the disease to include its causes, management and consequences. Davey has been particularly active in both designing effective treatment methods for podoconiosis and promoting its inclusion in national and international public health priorities. This resulted in its inclusion in the WHO list of Neglected Tropical Diseases and also as a health priority in Ethiopia.

In 2010, Davey returned to the UK supported by a Wellcome Trust University Award that she held at University of Sussex.

Publications Davey is a member of the large multinational collaborations that have contributed to the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors study since 2015. She is author or co-author of over 80 scientific publications or book chapters. They include: Kebede Deribe, Jorge Cano, Mei L. Trueba, Melanie J. Newport and Gail Davey. Global epidemiology of podoconiosis: A systematic review. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 12 (3) Article Number: e0006324 Fasil Tekola Ayele, Adebowale Adeyemo, Chris Finan, Elena Hailu, Paul Sinnott, Natalia Diaz Burlinson, Abraham Aseffa, Charles N. Rotimi, Melanie J. Newport and Gail Davey, (2012) HLA Class II Locus and Susceptibility to Podoconiosis. New England Journal of Medicine 366 1200-1208 Fasil Tekola, Susan Bull, Bobbie Farsides, Melanie J. Newport, Adebowale Adeyemo, Charles N. Rotimi and Gail Davey Impact of social stigma on the process of obtaining informed consent for genetic research on podoconiosis: a qualitative study. BMC Medical Ethics 10 Article number 13 Gail Davey, Fasil Tekola, and Melanie J. Newport, (2007) Podoconiosis: non-infectious geochemical elephantiasis. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 101 (12) 1175-1180 Fasil Tekola, Damen H Mariam and Gail Davey (2006) Economic costs of endemic non-filarial elephantiasis in Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia. Tropical Medicine and International Health 11 (7) 1136-1144