Nicholas Timpson Professor of Genetic Epidemiology University of Bristol

Nicholas Timpson’s research focuses on the application of genetic epidemiology to the dissection of potentially causal relationships between modifiable risk factors and complex health outcomes. His programmatic work specifically focuses on understanding body mass index (BMI) as a risk factor - using a variety of study designs and molecular phenotyping to examine pathways to disease and intervention effects. He leads work applying these methods to questions on the aetiology of cancer, cardiovascular health and the role of the environment in cardiometabolic health.

Nicholas is Principal Investigator of The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac) and has become increasingly involved in the strategic deployment of population-based resources in a coordinated manner to address population health. This has been most starkly demonstrated in the case of COVID-19, where through collaboration with the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, Wellcome Longitudinal Population Studies COVID-19 Questionnaire Research Group, National Core Studies (Longitudinal Health and Wealth) and NIHR/UKRI non-hospitalised longCOVID group “CONVALESCENCE”, he helped with work providing a population-based contribution to the understanding of pandemic impact.