Calum Semple

Professor Semple has studied severe virus disease outbreaks since 1989 in the fields of diagnostics, clinical characterization and clinical trials. He was a founder member of ISARIC the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium. He has led studies of COVID-19, MERS, Monkeypox, Ebola (EVD and Survivors), Influenza and Bronchiolitis, at times field-deployed in austere circumstances.  

In 2014 the WHO asked him to lead a mission to Sierra Leone in the escalating phase of the Ebola outbreak. He led a consortium of investigators from University of Sierra Leone, the Connaught Hospital and Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces Joint Medical Unit along with international partners. Together they ran the first clinical trial in Sierra Leone since the civil war ended in 2002. In 2016 he and his team were awarded the Queen’s Ebola Medal for Service in West Africa 2014-16 and in 2019 he received a Commonwealth Association Award for subsequent work with Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone. 

He was a Senior Government Clinical Advisor siting on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) for the COVID-19 response and the New Emerging Respiratory Viral Treats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), and a former member of the WHO Scientific Technical Advisory Committee for Ebola Emergencies (STAC-EE). He was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday honours 2020 for his role in the COVID-19 response.