Professor Philippa Easterbrook is an infectious diseases physician, epidemiologist, and researcher with more than two decades experience in scale-up of global response to the HIV epidemic, and the last 10 years also to the global elimination of hepatitis C and B infection. She is visiting Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College, London. For the previous 14 years, she was based at the World Health Organisation Headquarters in Geneva in the HIV, Hepatitis and STI department, where she provided led the development of WHO global normative guidance in both HIV and related opportunistic infections, and viral hepatitis B and C infection, alongside implementation of testing and treatment scale-up in low and middle-income countries. Key recent achievements include the new 2024 WHO hepatitis B guidelines which substantially simplify and expand treatment eligibility and are widely regarded as a game-changer in promoting treatment access globally; the 2022 guidelines on hepatitis C treatment including children and adolescents, and simplified service delivery; and first guidance for countries on validating elimination of viral hepatitis in 2021. She also served as the technical focal point to WHO Health Emergencies Programme for global outbreaks of hepatitis E across Africa, and WHO HQ lead for investigation of global event of severe acute hepatitis in young children in 2022. In 2023, she received the WHO Director General excellence team award for support of Egypt to achieve the gold tier award on the path elimination of hepatitis C infection.
Professor Easterbrook graduated with first class honours Bsc (Hons) degree in Immunology/Biochemistry from University of London and as Doctor of Medicine with Distinction from University of Cambridge. She completed her training in general medicine and infectious diseases in London, Oxford and Birmingham, and in public health and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and was subsequently Senior Lecturer in Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology at Imperial College, London. For eleven years, she was Head of Department, Professor of HIV Medicine, and consultant physician in Infectious Diseases at Kings College London, and as Head of Research at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), Makerere University, Kampala before moving to WHO.
