Professor Mark Wilcox
- Position: Professor of Medical Microbiology
- Areas of expertise: Infection; Clostridium difficile Infection; Healthcare Associated Infections; Diagnostics; Infection Clinical Trials; Infection Prevention and Control.
- Email: M.H.Wilcox@leeds.ac.uk
- Location: Old Medical School, Leeds General Infirmary (Ground Floor). Old Medical School, Leeds General Infirmary (Ground Floor).
Profile
Professor Wilcox is a Consultant / Head of Microbiology Research & Development / and Infection Lead of the Leeds NIHR Diagnostic Technologies Medical Technology and In Vitro Diagnostic Co-operative at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust;
Professor of Medical Microbiology, Sir Edward Brotherton Chair of Bacteriology, at the University of Leeds;
Lead on C. difficile infection for Public Health England; &
National Clinical Director, Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Prevention and Control for NHS England.
He has formerly been the Director of Infection Prevention (4 years), Infection Control Doctor (8 years), Clinical Director of Pathology (6 years) and Head of Microbiology (15 years) at LTHT.
Professor Wilcox is Chair of PHE’s Rapid Review Panel (reviews the utility of infection prevention & control products for the NHS), and is a member of the PHE’s Programme Board on Healthcare Associated Infection & Antimicrobial Resistance. Since the pandemic, he is a member of UK Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE, COVID-19; and chairs one of its subgroups on Nosocomial Infection), and a co-chair of DHSC’s UK Technical Validation Group for COVID-19 tests. He is a member of the Medical Research Council’s Infections and Immunity Board, and the Scientific Advisory Board for the EU Innovative Medicines Initiative’s COMBACTE-NET consortium. From 2017, he was seconded one day per week to NHS Improvement to support the delivery of the new national target to reduce healthcare associated Gram-negative blood stream infections in England. He was the Deputy Chair of the UK Department of Health’s Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Committee up until 2018.
He is an expert advisor to the Department of Health in England on healthcare associated infections (HCAIs), UK NICE (C. difficile management and antimicrobial evaluations project), the UK EPIC/NICE projects, the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme on Healthcare Associated Infection, the Wellcome Trust and CARB-X panel on novel antimicrobials, and the European Centre for Disease Control. He is a member of UK, European and US working groups on C. difficile infection, and is on the Editorial Boards of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Journal of Hospital Infection and Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice. He has provided clinical advice as part of the FDA/EMA submissions for the approval of several novel antimicrobial agents, 1998-2016.
Professor Wilcox heads a Healthcare Associated Infection research team at the University of Leeds (https://medicinehealth.leeds.ac.uk/faculty-/dir-record/research-groups/905/healthcare-associated-infection-research-group), comprising ~30 doctors, scientists and nurses; projects include multiple aspects of Clostridium difficile infection, diagnostics, antibiotic resistance and the gut microbiome, staphylococcal infection, and the clinical development of new antimicrobial agents. He has a track record of translational research, including providing the basis of clinical advice to the NHS. He has been the Principal/UK Investigator for 15 clinical trials of new anti-infective drugs, 1999-2018, has carried out multiple NIHR portfolio studies on healthcare associated infection topics, and is currently supplying central laboratory services for several clinical trials of antimicrobial agents. He has authored >560 papers and published a number of books and chapters. He is co-editor of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (5th/6th/7th Eds, 2007/12/15).
Responsibilities
- Sir Edward Brotherton Chair of Bacteriology; Head of HealthCare Associated Infection Research Group.
- Consultant; Head of Microbiology Research & Development; & Infection Lead of Leeds NIHR MIC, LTHT.
- National Clinical Director AMR/IPC for NHSE; Lead on C. difficile infection, Public Health England.
Research interests
Multiple aspects of Clostridium difficile infection, diagnostics, antibiotic resistance and the gut microbiome, staphylococcal infection, and the clinical development of new antimicrobial agents.
Qualifications
- B Med Sci
- BM, BS
- MD
- FRCPath
Professional memberships
- Healhcare Infection Society
- British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
- European Society of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
- Infectious Disease Society of America
- American Society for Microbiology
Research groups and institutes
- Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's
Current postgraduate researchers
<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>Projects
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<li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/393-limr-clinical-gastroenterology:-investigation-of-fidaxomicin-resistance-mechanisms-in-clostridium-difficile-">LIMR Clinical Gastroenterology: Investigation of Fidaxomicin Resistance Mechanisms in Clostridium difficile </a></li>