Nazrul Islam

Dr. Nazrul Islam is a physician-epidemiologist and medical statistician. Following his medical training (MBBS), he received his Masters and PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Harvard University and the University of British Columbia. He held a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the most competitive doctoral fellowship in Canada, and won multiple prestigious doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. 

As a quantitative research associate at the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge his work involved research methodology and quantitative data analysis of randomised controlled trials and large observational databases.

As a research fellow in medical statistics he combines research methodology, medical statistics, and machine learning to examine cardiovascular disease burden using integrated electronic health records and large prospective health studies. 

Dr Islam is Co-Director of the Monitoring Mortality Inequality Consortium examining the burden of COVID-19 around the world and Principal Investigator of an ONS-funded project examining the socioeconomic inequalities in the bi-directional relationship between COVID-19 and occupation.

One current research project examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of individuals with long term conditions. Another aims to identify unique clusters of people who share common health and social care needs for a targeted approach using machine learning to improve the lives of those with multiple long-term conditions.

He has over 80 publications in peer-reviewed journals (cited more than 6000 times) and his research has informed government reports and policies around the world and been covered by print and broadcast media.

He teaches on the statistics module of the MSc in Global Health and Epidemiology programme and supervises DPhil and Masters students. He founded and co-leads the Collaborative Systematic Review Programme for the department’s DPhil students. Graduate students interested in the health inequality, big data population health studies based on integrated primary and secondary care electronic health records, and health policy evaluation are particularly welcome to contact him.

Other roles

• Research Editor, The BMJ (British Medical Journal)
• Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Leicester
• Principal Methodologist/Statistician, UK Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• Technical Advisor, WHO-UN DESA Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 mortality assessment
• Editorial Board Member, BMJ Medicine