(Ann) Sarah Walker

Sarah has worked with the Modernising Medical Microbiology consortium since April 2006, originally on secondment from the MRC Clinical Trials Unit, but part-time with the University of Oxford from December 2011. Her work includes the design and analysis of studies investigating the epidemiology and management of infectious diseases (including healthcare-associated infections) and antimicrobial resistance, with a particular focus on 'big data' from routinely collected electronic health records. She co-leads the “Modernising Medical Microbiology” consortium translating new whole genome sequencing and informatics approaches into microbiology practice and service with Professors Crook and (Tim) Peto.

Sarah has been at the forefront of translating advances in genetic sequencing into microbiology services, and linking this sequence data to electronic health records for large-scale epidemiology. She was instrumental in obtaining ethical and regulatory approvals for a large anonymised linked database of hospital admissions and microbiology/laboratory data (Infections in Oxfordshire Research Database, IORD), and now leads analyses investigating aspects of epidemiology and management of infectious diseases in IORD as Chief Investigator. She is the Director of the National Institutes of Health Research Health (NIHR) Protection Research Unit on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections at Oxford, and Lead of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Modernising Medical Microbiology and Big Infection Diagnostics Theme. She has co-authored over 450 publications (H-index 95).

Most recently, she is the Chief Investigator and Academic Lead for the National COVID-19 Infection Survey, a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the Office for National Statistics, investigating prevalence and incidence of current and past infection with SARS-CoV-2.