John Danesh
BHF Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine
Director, BHF Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit
Head, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge
Faculty Member, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Director, Health Data Research UK-Cambridge
Professorial Fellow, Jesus College, Cambridge
Honorary Consultant, Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Email: jd292@medschl.cam.ac.uk
EA Name: Lilly Zafer
EA Email: johndaneshpa@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Biography
Professor Danesh has discovered and characterised multiple risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and developed and evaluated novel strategies for disease prevention now adopted worldwide, published in >375 papers that have attracted >220,000 citations to date (h-index > 165). His work has been recognised through multiple personal accolades, including a British Heart Foundation Personal Chair, European Research Council Advanced Investigator Award, NIHR Senior Investigator Award, and election to the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.
Born in Iran and committed to global public health, Professor Danesh trained in medicine in New Zealand and in epidemiology in London and Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He has co-led creation of several multi-dimensional research platforms (“population bioresources”) in the UK and South Asia involving a total of >200,000 study participants which are serving as long-term platforms for interdisciplinary discovery and translational research. Professor Danesh serves as a senior adviser to multiple initiatives (e.g., UK Biobank, Our Future Health), funding agencies (e.g., Wellcome, NovoNordisk Foundation), and companies (e.g., AstraZeneca, Novartis).
Research Approach: Using a “molecules to health records” strategy, Professor Danesh’s team aims to combine the precision of molecular sciences with the scale, breadth and relevance of large-scale multi-modal epidemiology, including insights from longitudinal health records, using both observational and interventional methods.
Current projects: Multiple projects in the UK, across Europe and in low- and middle-income countries. Please see the website of the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit for details.
Selected Publications:
- Lambert SA, ... Danesh, J...., Inouye M. The Polygenic Score Catalog as an open database for reproducibility and systematic evaluation. Nature Genetics 2021. 53:420-425.
- Codd V, …, Danesh J, Nelson CP, Samani NJ. Polygenic basis and biomedical consequences of telomere length variation. Nature Genetics 2021. 53:1425-1433
- Kaptoge S, … Danesh, J., Di Angelantonio E. World Health Organization cardiovascular disease risk prediction charts: revised models to estimate risk in 21 global regions. Lancet Global Health. 2019:7(10),e1332-e1345.
- Sun, BB. … [20+ authors] … Danesh, J. Runz, H. Butterworth, AS. Genomic atlas of the human plasma proteome. Nature 2018. 558:73-79.
- Wood, AM. Kaptoge, S. Butterworth, AS. … [50+ authors] … Di Angelantonio, E. Danesh, J. Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual-participant data on 599,912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies. Lancet 2018; 391:1513-1523.
Research collaborators/links
Danesh, John – Wellcome Sanger Institute
