Rate My Professor Poppy Lamberton

Professor Poppy Lamberton serves as Professor (Infectious Disease Ecology) in the School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow, where she is also affiliated with the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology. Her academic journey includes a BA in Biological Sciences from Pembroke College, University of Oxford, followed by a PhD from Imperial College London, postdoctoral research, and fellowships at Imperial before joining the University of Glasgow as a Senior Lecturer, advancing to her current professorial role. As a parasitologist and field epidemiologist, Lamberton leads an interdisciplinary team focused on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), particularly schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths, and onchocerciasis. Her research integrates field epidemiological data, laboratory experiments, and population genetics to elucidate parasite population structure, transmission dynamics, host-parasite-drug interactions, and the consequences of prolonged mass drug administration.

Lamberton's contributions extend to collaborative efforts with anthropologists, economists, social scientists, and engineers to address human behaviors in risk management, socioeconomic drivers of transmission, and community-level sanitation interventions. Notable publications include 'Soil-transmitted helminth infections' in The Lancet (2018, over 1,100 citations), 'Reduced Efficacy of Praziquantel Against Schistosoma mansoni Is Associated With Multiple Rounds of Mass Drug Administration' in Clinical Infectious Diseases (2016), 'Unravelling the true biopsychosocial impact of schistosomiasis' in Trends in Parasitology (2026), and 'The associations between Schistosoma mansoni infection, pre-treatment symptoms, praziquantel side effects, and treatment efficacy in Ugandan school-aged children' in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (2025). Funded by prestigious grants such as the European Research Council Starting Grant and Global Challenges Research Fund, her work influences NTD control policies globally. She advises the Scottish Schistosomiasis National Advice, Investigation and Liaison Group (SNAIL) and leads international collaborations tackling schistosomiasis persistence.