Professor G.J. Melendez-Torres

I arrived at the University of Exeter in March 2019 to take up a personal chair in clinical and social epidemiology. I lead the School for Public Health Environments Research at Exeter (SPHERE), which is the University's membership in the NIHR School for Public Health Research; the Exeter-Cardiff-Birmingham NIHR Public Health Review Team; and co-lead with Prof Jo Thompson Coon the NIHR-funded evidence synthesis group Isca Evidence. At national level, I am the Associate Director for Involvement and Engagement for the NIHR School for Public Health Research, and Associate Dean for Researcher Inclusion for the NIHR Academy. In addition, I am Deputy Director of the Exeter NIHR Policy Research Programme Evidence Reviews Facility. Until July 2023, I led the Peninsula Technology Assessment Group (PenTAG), one of 11 major research units in the UK providing expert advice on the clinical and cost effectiveness of new drugs to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. I continue as chief investigator of the platform grant that underpins PenTAG's work, alongside contributing to parallel programmes in health policy and medical technologies evaluation. Finally, I hold the citiesRISE Research Chair in Public Mental Health, through which I lead a programme of research to develop new ways of promoting mental health for children and young people around the world.

My doctorate, which was in social epidemiology and medical sociology, focused on substance use and sexual risk behaviours in men who have sex with men, integrating advances in both systematic review methods and latent variable modelling. After a first lecturing post in social policy and social intervention at the University of Oxford (2013-2015), I began working in HTA at the University of Warwick (2015-2017). As a member of their technology assessment group, I led the multiple technology assessment project that re-evaluated first-line therapies for multiple sclerosis. Before arrival at Exeter, I worked at the Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) at Cardiff University (2017-2019), where I developed research on child health and on intimate partner violence.