Dr. Madeleine Thomson stands as one of the world’s leading experts in climate-sensitive health interventions, bringing over 25 years of research experience to the forefront of global health challenges. Currently serving as Head of Impacts and Adaptation at Wellcome, Thomson has dedicated her career to understanding and addressing the complex relationships between climate change and human health.
Thomson’s journey began as a field entomologist, where she spent her early career undertaking operational research to support large-scale health interventions in Africa, including work on the national impregnated bednet programme in The Gambia. This hands-on experience in the field provided her with invaluable insights into the practical challenges of implementing health interventions in resource-limited settings.
Her academic credentials are impressive, with education from prestigious institutions including the University of Sheffield (BSc), Imperial College London (MSc), and the University of Liverpool (PhD). This solid foundation in scientific research has enabled her to bridge the gap between laboratory findings and real-world applications.
Prior to joining Wellcome, Thomson worked as a Senior Research Scientist at Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society, where she directed the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Malaria Early Warning Systems and other Climate Sensitive Diseases. In this role, she pioneered innovative approaches to predicting and preventing disease outbreaks by integrating climate data with health information.
Thomson’s expertise spans multiple areas of climate health, including infectious diseases, public health outcomes of hydrometeorological disasters, and nutrition. Her work has been instrumental in developing new data, methodologies, and tools for improving climate-sensitive health interventions, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries where these challenges are most acute.
As a Visiting Professor at Lancaster University Medical School, Thomson continues to contribute to academic research while maintaining her practical focus on global health challenges. Her work has been recognized internationally, and she regularly contributes to policy discussions and scientific conferences around the world.
For more information about Dr. Thomson’s current work and research, visit her profiles at https://wellcome.org/about-us/our-people/staff/madeleine-thomson, https://climatehealth.gwu.edu/climate-and-health-seminar-dr-madeleine-thomson-head-climate-impacts-wellcome-trust, and https://vacsafe.columbia.edu/people/madeleine-thomson.