Dr. Helen Wimalarathna

Lecturer in Epidemiology and Population Health

School of Medicine

Harrington Building, HA210

+44 (0) 1772 89 4985

hwimalarathna@uclan.ac.uk

Subject Areas: Health and Social Care

My interests include the evolution and ecology of pathogens and the epidemiology of infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance. I have a particular interest in diseases associated with poverty, both in the UK and worldwide. I have worked on health inequalities in Sri Lanka and the UK.

Helen's ResearchGate

Full Profile

Qualifications:

  • D.Phil. Molecular Epidemiology and Ecology of Campylobacter, University of Oxford, 2015
  • M.Sc. Control of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2007
  • B.Sc. (Hons) Natural Sciences, University of Durham, 2005

Research Groups:

  • Systematic Reviews
  • Stroke Team

Teaching activities and responsibilities:

  • CLAHRC Intern Supervision

Publications

Wimalarathna, H. M. L., Richardson, J. F., Lawson, A. J., Elson, R., Meldrum, R., Little, C. L., … Sheppard, S. K. (2013). Widespread acquisition of antimicrobial resistance among Campylobacter isolates from UK retail poultry and evidence for clonal expansion of resistant lineages. BMC Microbiology, 13, 160.

Wimalarathna, H.M.L., Sheppard, S.K. Ecological Factors that Influence Genetic Structure in Campylobacter coli and Campylobacter jejuni. in book: Current Topics in Phylogenetics and Phylogeography of Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems. In Tech. 2013.

Abid, M., Wimalarathna, H., Mills, J., Saldana, L., Pang, W., Richardson, J. F., … McCarthy, N. D. (2013). Duck liver-associated outbreak of Campylobacteriosis among humans, United Kingdom, 2011. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 19(8), 1310–3.

Pascoe B, Meric G, Yahara K, Wimaralathna H, Murray S, Hitchings MD, Sproston EL, Carrillo CD,Taboada EN, Cooper KK, Huynh S, Cody AJ, Jolley KA, Maiden MC, McCarthy ND, Didelot X, Parker C, Sheppard SK. (2016) Local genes for local bacteria: evidence of allopatry in the genomes of transatlantic Campylobacter populations. Molecular Ecology 10.1111/mec.14176

More Publications

Research

  • Molecular Surveillance of Campylobacter;
  • Outbreak Detection using Molecular Methods;
  • Attribution of Disease to Host Sources Using Genomic Data and a Bayesian Modelling Approach;
  • Investigation of the Genomic Epidemiology of Antimicrobial Resistance in Campylobacter from Different Host Sources and Different Geographical Sources;

Membership of professional and learned bodies

  • Fellow of the Zoological Society of London
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Health

Projects

  • CLAHRC Systematic Review of Multidisciplinary Team Healthcare Interventions