Ben Cowling

Benjamin John Cowling MBE (born 11 June 1979) is a British epidemiologist and medical statistician. He is the current Chair Professor of Epidemiology and Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong (HKU).

Ben Cowling

MBE
Born
Benjamin John Cowling[1]

11 June 1979[2]
Reading, UK
NationalityBritish
EducationUniversity of Warwick (BSc, PhD)[3]
Known forCOVID-19 research
Children2 sons[4]
Scientific career
FieldsEpidemiology
Medical statistics
InstitutionsUniversity of Hong Kong
Imperial College London[5]
ThesisSurvival models for censored point processes (2003)
Doctoral advisorsJane Hutton
Ewart Shaw

Early life and education

Cowling was raised in Sonning, England.[6] He attended Sonning Church of England Primary School and, from 1990 to 1997, Reading School.[6][7]

He obtained his BSc in mathematics, operational research, statistics, and economics (MORSE) in 2000 from the University of Warwick, and then a PhD from the same university in 2003.[3][8]

Career and research

After his PhD, Cowling joined Imperial College London as a postdoctoral research statistician.[5][8][9][10]

He moved to Hong Kong in 2004, first as a senior research assistant at the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), climbing the ranks gradually and becoming an assistant professor in 2008.[8] He was promoted to associate professor in 2013,[8] when he started to head the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.[5][11] He became Chair Professor of Epidemiology in July 2022.[12][13] He now heads the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control at HKU.[14]

Cowling's research is mostly about infectious disease epidemiology, including field studies of respiratory virus transmission,[15] the effectiveness of influenza vaccines[16] and infection immunity.[1][17] During the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his team shifted the focus to the COVID-19 disease.[18][19][20][21]

He also gave interviews to multiple local and global media throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.[22][23][24][25][26]

Currently outside HKU, Cowling is the editor-in-chief of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses,[27] a member of the MIDAS network (a group of global infectious disease experts that study them with computational methods),[28] a member of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University.[11] He also sits on the Council of the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases.[29]

Honours and awards

References
  1. "Cowling, Benjamin John". School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  2. "Benjamin John COWLING". Companies House. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  3. "Professor Cowling, Benjamin John". University of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  4. Corcoran, Sue (12 June 2021). "Sonning professor named in Queen's birthday honours". Wokingham.Today. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022. ... "My wife and two children are here with me in Hong Kong" ...
  5. "Benjamin John Cowling 高本恩". Croucher Foundation. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  6. Corcoran, Sue (17 June 2021). "MBE awarded to Sonning professor for his work on covid". Wokingham.Today. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  7. "OR Professor Ben Cowling (1990-1997) awarded MBE in the 2021 Queen's birthday honour's list". Reading School. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  8. "Benjamin John Cowling BSc, PhD, FFPH" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  9. "Webinar: Conversation with Prof. Ben Cowling on the latest COVID-19 developments". Swiss Association of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  10. "Prof. Benjamin J Cowling". Hospital Authority Convention 2019. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  11. "Benjamin Cowling". Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  12. "Cowling, Benjamin John". School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  13. "Cowling, Benjamin John". School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  14. "WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control". School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  15. Ip, Dennis K.M.; Lau, Lincoln L.H.; Leung, Nancy H.L.; Fang, Vicky J.; Chan, Kwok-Hung; Chu, Daniel K.W.; Leung, Gabriel M.; Peiris, J.S. Malik; Uyeki, Timothy M.; Cowling, Benjamin J. (2017). "Viral Shedding and Transmission Potential of Asymptomatic and Paucisymptomatic Influenza Virus Infections in the Community". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 64 (6): 736–742. doi:10.1093/cid/ciw841. PMC 5967351. PMID 28011603. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  16. Ng, Tiffany W Y; Cowling, Benjamin J; Gao, Hui Zhi; Thompson, Mark G (2019). "Comparative Immunogenicity of Enhanced Seasonal Influenza Vaccines in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis". The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 219 (10): 1525–1535. doi:10.1093/infdis/jiy720. PMC 6775043. PMID 30551178. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  17. Ranjeva, Sylvia; Subramanian, Rahul; Fang, Vicky J.; Leung, Gabriel M.; Ip, Dennis K.M.; Perera, Ranawaka A.P.M.; Peiris, J.S. Malik; Cowling, Benjamin J.; Cobey, Sarah (2019). "Age-specific differences in the dynamics of protective immunity to influenza". Nature Communications. 10 (1): 1660. Bibcode:2019NatCo..10.1660R. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09652-6. PMC 6458119. PMID 30971703.
  18. Leung, Nancy H.L.; Chu, Daniel K.W.; Shiu, Eunice Y.C.; Chan, Kwok-Hung; McDevitt, James J.; Hau, Benien J.P.; Yen, Hui-Ling; Li, Yuguo; Ip, Dennis K.M.; Peiris, J.S. Malik; Seto, Wing-Hong; Leung, Gabriel M.; Milton, Donald K.; Cowling, Benjamin J. (2020). "Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks". Nature Medicine. 26 (5): 676–680. doi:10.1038/s41591-020-0843-2. PMC 8238571. PMID 32371934.
  19. Cowling, Benjamin J; Ali, Sheikh Taslim; Ng, Tiffany WY; Tsang, Tim K; Li, Julian CM; Fong, Min Whui; Liao, Qiuyan; Kwan, Mike YW; Lee, So Lun; Chiu, Susan S; Wu, Joseph T; Wu, Peng; Leung, Gabriel M (2020). "Impact assessment of non-pharmaceutical interventions against coronavirus disease 2019 and influenza in Hong Kong: an observational study". The Lancet Public Health. 5 (5): e279–e288. doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30090-6. PMC 7164922. PMID 32311320.
  20. Yang, Bingyi; Sullivan, Sheena G.; Du, Zhanwei; Tsang, Tim K.; Cowling, Benjamin J. (2022). "Effectiveness of International Travel Controls for Delaying Local Outbreaks of COVID-19". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 28 (1): 251–253. doi:10.3201/eid2801.211944. PMC 8714230. PMID 34647863. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  21. Gao, Caroline X.; Li, Yuguo; Wei, Jianjian; Cotton, Sue; Hamilton, Matthew; Wang, Lei; Cowling, Benjamin J. (2021). "Multi-route respiratory infection: When a transmission route may dominate". Science of the Total Environment. 752: 141856. Bibcode:2021ScTEn.752n1856G. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141856. PMC 7439990. PMID 32889280.
  22. Gunia, Amy (4 February 2020). "Why This Week Could Be Critical for Understanding How Bad the Coronavirus Outbreak Will Get". Time. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  23. "高本恩：協助政策制定者及公眾辨清真相是難題". Now News. 13 September 2020. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  24. "【口罩不能除】咳嗽一次噴出3000粒飛沫 BBC：疫情後仍必須戴口罩防感染". Hong Kong Economic Times. 22 May 2020. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  25. Kim, Jane (30 October 2021). "Covid-19: Hong Kong's gov't's own data raises questions over necessity of 21-day quarantine". Hong Kong Free Press. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  26. "How to protect yourself from Covid-19: Interview with Professor Ben Cowling". Hong Kong Buzz. 7 November 2021. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  27. "Editorial Board". Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  28. "Ben Cowling". MIDAS Network. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  29. "Benjamin Cowling, Professor, WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong". International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  30. "Birthday Honours 2021 Overseas and International List: Knight Bachelor and Order of the British Empire". Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Government of the United Kingdom. 11 June 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2022.


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