MRC Epidemiology UnitResearcher
Global Diet and Physical Activity Research Group
Current work & interests
Nigel Unwin is a public health physician and epidemiologist with a longstanding interest in the distribution, determinants and prevention of diabetes and related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), both in the UK and in lower income settings outside the UK. Nigel works on the Unit’s Global Public Health Initiatives and is appointed as Director of Research.
Along with his part time (20%) position at the Unit, he is also is a part time (20%) Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology at the College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter. He maintains a formal connection with University of the West Indies (UWI) as honorary professor of Population Health Sciences at the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre.
Background and experience
Nigel began his academic career at Newcastle University, later becoming professor of epidemiology there. His research at Newcastle included understanding the determinants of NCD risk across ethnic and socio-economic groups, much of which was in collaboration with colleagues in Tanzania, Cameroon, and South Africa.
Between 2010 and 2016 he was a Professor in Public Health at UWI, based at the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. His research there included collaborating on the evaluation of national and regional policy responses to NCDs. It was at UWI that he became particularly interested in understanding how food systems are related to the high burdens of nutrition related diseases in the Caribbean and other small islands states. It is an interest in food systems that promote human and planetary health that drives his current research, which includes collaborating on and leading work that aims to inform and evaluate interventions to improve nutrition in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Nigel is a fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health and of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He has contributed over many years to the work of World Health Organization’s diabetes group, including on the classification and diagnosis of diabetes, and to diabetes prevalence and mortality estimates of the International Diabetes Federation. His reviewing activities have included membership of various funding panels at Wellcome and the Medical Research Council, and he is currently a faculty member for the MRC Applied Global Health panel.