Simon Iain Hay, (born 15 January 1971, Rinteln, Germany) is a British epidemiologist. He is Professor for Global Health[3] at the University of Washington and Director of Geospatial Science[4] at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). From 2013-2015 he served as the 52nd President[5] of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Simon Iain Hay
Born (1971-01-15) 15 January 1971 (age 53)
Alma materUniversity of Bristol
Green College, Oxford
AwardsScientific Medal (2008)
Back Award (2012)
Bailey K. Ashford Medal (2013)
Chalmers Medal (2015)
Scientific career
FieldsEpidemiology
Cartography[1]
InstitutionsUniversity of Oxford
University of Washington
ThesisAn investigation of the utility of remote sensing imagery for predicting the distribution and abundance of the tsetse fly (Diptera: Glossinidae) (1996[2])
Websitesimonihay.com

Education and career

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Hay attended the University of Bristol, where he studied zoology (B.Sc. 1993, summa cum laude). He matriculated at the University of Oxford in the same year and gained his doctorate in epidemiology (D.Phil., 1996) while at Green College, Oxford. Early influences during his doctoral studies were Sir Richard Doll[6] and Sir Richard Southwood.[7] Hay has remained at the University of Oxford where he is now a member of congregation and was awarded the title of Reader (2008) and then Professor (2012).[2] In 2012 he also became a Research Fellow in the Sciences and Mathematics[8] at St John's College, Oxford where he gained a higher doctorate (D.Sc., 2014). In 2015, he became Professor for Health at the University of Washington and Director of the Local Burden of Disease at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

The Lancet Infectious Diseases published a biographical sketch, Simon Hay: mapping the world's ills [9] summarising Hay's education, early career and influences. His work on mapping malaria and other vector-borne diseases, and more recently adding a geospatial dimension to the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD), is described. Hay's future goal is to create high spatial resolution maps for all the diseases, risks, and injuries covered by the GBD, which could be possible in the next 10 years with advances in technology. Influential colleagues in the field, Peter Hotez[10] and Jeremy Farrar[11] acknowledge Prof. Hay's geospatial vision in presenting complex data sets in an accessible way that has led to policy changes worldwide.

Kofi Annan[12] recognised the importance of Hay's recent work in his article,[13] saying, “Such fine-grained insight brings tremendous responsibility to act.” Published in Nature (journal), these high-resolution maps of child growth failure (stunted growth, wasting and underweight),[14] and educational attainment,[15] clearly illustrate local progress made during the Millennium Development Goal era, as well as, some entrenched inequalities across the continent, that need significant attention in the Sustainable Development Goal era. As well as working on these Nature (journal) papers, Hay's Local Burden of Disease (LBD) [16] team explores health trends at a high spatial resolution to provide information to local decision-makers.[17]

Research

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Hay investigates spatial and temporal aspects of infectious disease epidemiology to support the more rational implementation of disease control and intervention strategies.[1][18]

Honours and awards

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Hay was awarded the Scientific Medal[19] of the Zoological Society of London (2008), the Back Award[20] of the Royal Geographical Society (2012), for research contributing to public health policy, the Bailey K. Ashford Medal[21] of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2013) and the Chalmers Medal[22] of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2015), both for exceptional contributions to tropical medicine.

References

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  1. ^ a b Simon I. Hay publications indexed by Google Scholar
  2. ^ a b Simon Hay's ORCID 0000-0002-0611-7272
  3. ^ University of Washington, Department of Global Health, Professor, Global Health, Simon Hay. Retrieved on 15 Oct 2015 from University of Washington, Department of Global Health
  4. ^ Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Director of Geospatial Science, Simon Iain Hay. Retrieved on 15 Oct 2015 from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
  5. ^ Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Simon Hay Profile. Retrieved on 15 Oct 2015 from Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
  6. ^ Peto, R.; Beral, V. (2010). "Sir Richard Doll CH OBE. 28 October 1912 -- 24 July 2005". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 56: 63. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2010.0019. Retrieved from Royal Society Publishing on 18 Feb 2014.
  7. ^ May, R. M.; Hassell, M. P. (2008). "Thomas Richard Edmund Southwood. 20 June 1931 -- 26 October 2005". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 54: 333–374. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2008.0005. S2CID 72988136.
  8. ^ Professor Simon Hay, Research Fellow in the Sciences and Mathematics. Retrieved from St John's College on 21 Sep 2017.
  9. ^ Kirby, T. (2017). "Simon Hay: mapping the world's ills". The Lancet Infectious Diseases 17(10): 1031. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30532-7. Retrieved from “The Lancet Infectious Diseases” on 21 Sep 2017.
  10. ^ Peter Hotez, Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States. Retrieved from “Baylor College of Medicine” on 21 Sep 2017.
  11. ^ Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust. Retrieved from “Wellcome Trust” on 21 Sep 2017.
  12. ^ Kofi Annan, Founding Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation. Retrieved from “Kofi Annan Foundation” on 28 Feb 2018.
  13. ^ Annan, K., Data can help to end malnutrition across Africa. (2018). Nature, 555(7694): 7. Retrieved from [1] “Data can help to end malnutrition across Africa” on 28 Feb 2018.
  14. ^ Osgood-Zimmerman, A., Millear, A.I., Stubbs, R.W., Graetz, N., Shields, C., Pickering, B., Earl, L., Kinyoki, D.K., Henry, N.J., Wiens, K.E., Letourneau, I.D., Burstein, B., Reiner Jr, R.C., Mosser, J.F., Fullman, N., Deshpande, A., Casey, D.C., Jr., Liu, P., Smith, D.L., Bhatt, S., Cameron, E., Gething, P.W., Gibson, H.S., Weiss, D.J., Krause, K., Piwoz, E., Rawat, R., Herrero, M., Noor, A.M., Levine, A.J., Afshin, A., Mokdad, A.H., Lim, S.S., Murray, C.J.L., Kassebaum, N.J.† and Hay, S.I.† (2018). Mapping child growth failure in Africa between 2000 and 2015. Nature, 555(7694): 41-47. Retrieved from [2] “Mapping child growth failure in Africa between 2000 and 2015” on 28 Feb 2018.
  15. ^ Graetz, N., Friedman, J., Osgood-Zimmerman, A., Burstein, R., Fullman, N., Biehl, M., Ray, S.E., Deshpande, A., Mosser, J.F., Earl, L., Reiner Jr, R.C., Longbottom, J., Mokdad, A.H., Lim, S.S., Murray, C.J.L., Gakidou, E.† and Hay, S.I.† (2018). Geospatial analyses of educational attainment in Africa between 2000 and 2015. Nature, 555(7694): 48-53. Retrieved from [3] “Geospatial analyses of educational attainment in Africa between 2000 and 2015” on 28 Feb 2018.
  16. ^ Local Burden of Disease. Retrieved from “Local Burden of Disease” on 21 May 2018.
  17. ^ Siegel, J. (2018). “Putting precision health on the map”. The Huddle, The University of Washington. Retrieved from Putting precision health on the map on 21 May 2018.
  18. ^ Professor Simon Iain Hay website. Retrieved from Professor Simon Iain Hay on 15 Oct 2015.
  19. ^ Zoological Society of London Scientific Medal Winners, 2008, Simon Hay. Retrieved from ZSL Scientific Medal Winners Archived 16 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine on 13 Jan 2014.
  20. ^ Royal Geographical Society 2012 medals and awards, Back Award, Prof. Simon Hay. Retrieved on 13 Jan 2014 from 2012 Awards and Medals
  21. ^ American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2013 Award Winners, Bailey K. Ashford Medal, Simon I. Hay. Retrieved on 13 Jan 2014 from Bailey K. Ashford Medal Archived 21 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Previous medal winners, Chalmers Medal Awards 2015, Simon Hay. Retrieved on 15 Oct 2015 from Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Previous medal winners