Tom Parks

DPhil student

Research Summary

I am an Medical Research Council Clinical Research Training Fellow investigating genetic susceptibility to group A streptococcal (GAS) disease.

Group A streptococcal disease is endemic in many parts of the developing world where it accounts for at least 500,000 deaths a year. There are diverse manifestations ranging from superficial infection of the skin and throat through to invasive infection and post-infective inflammatory disease including rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and glomerulonephritis . The greatest cause of death is RHD and the highest rates are found among the indigenous populations of the Pacific Island Nations and Australia where the other manifestations are also most frequent. However invasive infection remains a concern worldwide and the incidence continues to rise. In the UK there are approximately 1500 cases each year over half of which require emergency surgery or intensive care admission despite which one in five die. Invasive infection is also the leading cause of maternal death in the UK, which is probably a reflection of the situation worldwide.

My research focuses on genetic susceptibility to the extreme manifestations, RHD and invasive infection. In the Pacific we have recently begun a case-control study of RHD based at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, Suva, Fiji, in collaboration with the Fiji Ministry of Health and the Fiji National University, as well as Dr Andrew Steer and colleagues from the University of Melbourne. We have also begun a second case-control study at the Centre Hospitalier Gaston Bourret, Nouméa, New Caledonia, in collaboration with Dr Mariana Mirabel from Institut National de la santé et de la recherché médicale (INSERN). At both sites we will also enrol patients with invasive infection, in New Caledonia with the assistance of the Institut Pasteur de Nouvelle-Calédonie.

In the UK we are working with Theresa Lamagni and colleagues at the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, Rebecca Cordery at the North Central Northeast London Health Protection Unit, and Shiranee Sriskandan Imperial College London to recruit patients with previous invasive streptococcal infection, a project assisted by the Lee Spark Necrotising Fasciitis Foundation.

Previous Experience:

I completed my undergraduate training at Selwyn College Cambridge before joining the Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School for my Foundation and Core Medical Training. During my undergraduate training I worked in the laboratories of Professor Andrew Lever at Cambridge and Professor Mike Levin in London. Since joining the Hill Laboratory in 2009 I have also worked on projects investigating susceptibility to Pneumocystis jirovecii and leprosy.

Supervisor: Professor Adrian Hill

Co-Supervisor: Dr Andrew Steer, University of Melbourne

Funding:

Medical Research Council Clinical Research Training Fellowship

British Medical Association Josephine Lansdell Grant 2012

European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases 2013

Key Publications:

1. Parks T, Hill AV, Chapman SJ. The perpetual challenge of infectious diseases. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(1):90–0.

2. Parks T, Smeesters PR, Steer AC. Streptococcal skin infection and rheumatic heart disease. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2012;25(2):145–53.

3. Parks T, Kado J, Colquhoun S, Carapetis JR, Steer AC. Underdiagnosis of acute rheumatic fever in primary care settings in a developing country. Trop Med Int Health. 2009;14(11):1407–13.