Billy Quilty

Background

About Billy Quilty

I am a postdoctoral researcher specialising in infectious disease epidemiology and mathematical modelling at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. I also serve as an Honorary Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). In 2023, I completed my PhD while progressing from Research Assistant to Research Fellow at LSHTM, building upon my MSc in Epidemiology from Imperial College London, which I finished in 2018. My research portfolio includes evaluating the impact of reduced dose schedules for pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (Yoshida et al. 2025, NEJM), modelling COVID-19 response measures as part of SPI-M (a UK SAGE subgroup), and supporting the 2018 Ebola response in collaboration with the WHO. During the COVID-19 pandemic, my work on travel quarantine duration and contact tracing testing strategies, particularly Daily Contact Testing, informed public health policy decisions in both the UK and US (Quilty et al. 2021, Lancet PH, Quilty et al. 2021 Eurosurveillance, and others). I have also conducted research on serological protection thresholds and travel-related transmission risk for COVID-19, working with international organisations including WHO, ECDC, and FIND. Currently, I am exploring applications of artificial intelligence in outbreak response and pandemic preparedness, collaborating with the WHO Pandemic Hub in Berlin, LSHTM, and MSF Epicentre. I have developed strong research communication skills, presenting to policy makers, participating in press briefings, and managing scientific communication across various platforms. My research has been funded by grants from organisations including the WHO, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National Institute for Health Research.