Dr. Thomas Christie Williams

Wellcome Trust ECAT Clinical Lecturer

Background

I am a Wellcome Trust ECAT Clinical Lecturer and Registrar in Respiratory Paediatrics at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh. Prior to this I completed a PhD Fellowship in Molecular and Evolutionary Genetics at the MRC Institute of Genetics and Cancer. This included a secondment to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to conduct SARS-CoV-2 sequencing at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also sit on the Laboratory Technical Committee for Phase II of the World Health Organisation's Global RSV Surveillance Program.

I hold a BA (1st class) in Archaeology and Anthropology from St. Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, and a Medical Degree (MB BChir, with Distinction) from Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge.

Research summary

I am interested in the implications of viral genomic variability for the success of immunisation programs for respiratory pathogens such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and SARS-CoV-2. 

Past research interests

My PhD fellowship focused on the functional and mutagenic implications of ribonucleotides (RNA) incorporated into DNA, and was split between the Taylor and Jackson groups at the IGC. This PhD work was published in Nature (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35140396/ ) in February 2022.

In the press

I have conducted interviews on TV (BBC Scotland, STV), radio (Radio Scotland) and with newspapers including The Herald, The Scotsman and The National.