The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is one of the world's leading public health universities. LSHTM have an annual research income of more than £190 million, and provide outstanding specialist education for their 4,700 postgraduate students.

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is one of the world’s leading public health universities.

Theri mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice. They are committed to helping create a more healthy, sustainable and equitable world for everyone, because they believe their shared future depends on their shared health.

Past and present

Founded in 1899 at the London Docks, LSHTM has two UK sites in the Bloomsbury area of London at Keppel Street and Tavistock Place, and units in The Gambia and Uganda. Originally set up to serve a colonial mission, today they are a global network of specialist centres and partners, working together to improve health worldwide. Their dedicated and influential community of staff, students and alumni work in government, academia, international agencies and health services across the world. Learn more about the history of LSHTM.

Impact

With their international presence and collaborative ethos, they are uniquely placed to help shape health policy and translate research findings into tangible impact to meet today’s challenges. The results of the latest government's Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) acknowledged the strength and depth of LSHTM’s world-leading research. They ranked first for the key measure of impact and joint 10th overall of all universities in the UK, in tables published by the Times Higher Education. They were also one of only three institutions found by the REF to be providing a world-leading environment for public health research in the UK.

They were at the forefront of informing the UK and global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and before that during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Today, they live in a time of accelerating change and uncertainty, where humanity’s growing global footprint is disrupting the climate and the ecosystems they rely on. They see news every day about floods and heat surges, famines and epidemics. At LSHTM, they’re working on new approaches to help people and communities see further and act faster to get ahead of the major challenges affecting health.

Research

Research income has grown to more than £190 million per year from national and international funding sources including UK government and research councils, the European Union, the Wellcome Trust, Gates Foundation and other philanthropic sources. Their staff are conducting research in more than 100 countries.

Their diverse research talents, skills and experience underpin their position as a leader in public and global health. These range from the molecular to the global, the theoretical to the applied, the analytical to the political. Their experts go beyond pathogens and pathology to understand how the structures of societies affect health and wellbeing, and how people in different situations and circumstances respond.

Education

They are committed to training future health leaders, managers and researchers across the world to take on the challenges of their time. Their research-led educational programmes in public and global health offer a stimulating and truly global outlook. They have around 1,200 face-to-face Master's and Doctoral students, 2,500 studying by distance learning, and 900 each year on short courses and continuous professional development. Their free online courses are studied by more than 300,000 participants globally. Full of passion and curiosity, their students are a key part of their global network and mission to improve health worldwide.

Staff community

They have around 3,500 staff based all around the world with core hubs in London and at the MRC Units in The Gambia and Uganda, which joined LSHTM in February 2018. Their outstanding, diverse and committed staff make an impact where it is most needed - deploying research in real time in response to crises, developing innovative programmes for major health threats, or training the next generation of public and global health leaders and researchers.

Partnerships

Working in partnership is central to achieving their mission. Their strategic collaborations in the UK and across high-, middle- and low-income countries aim to address health inequalities across the world. Being open to different perspectives helps us see the bigger picture and sparks new ideas. To meet the challenges of today, they need to see further ahead. To help us achieve this, they are building better networks of collaboration and coordination, drawing together different expertise and lived experience from all parts of the world so they can move quickly to effect change and turn insights and ideas into action on the ground.

LSHTM is also a member of the M8 Alliance of Academic Health Centers, Universities and National Academies, the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region, and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health.