Rate My Professor Nuno Faria

Nuno Faria is Professor in Virus Genomic Epidemiology at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis within the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. Holding a PhD, his research programme centres on the evolution and epidemiology of rapidly evolving viruses that circulate in human, vector, and animal populations, including SARS-CoV-2, yellow fever, chikungunya, Zika, and dengue. Key research topics include the epidemiology, evolution, and phylodynamics of viral epidemics; development of local and regional genomic capacity and outbreak preparedness; and one-health approaches for anticipating viral emergence in hotspots of emerging infectious diseases. Faria leads the Virus Genomic Epidemiology Group at Imperial, which he established upon joining the institution in 2020, and co-leads the Brazil-UK CADDE Centre with the University of São Paulo, where he holds a visiting professor appointment. Previously, he served as a Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford.

Faria contributes to teaching on MSc Epidemiology programmes at Imperial College London, the University of Oxford, and the University of São Paulo, and supervises PhD students at these institutions as well as international workshops. His high-impact publications have shaped the field of viral phylodynamics and genomic epidemiology. Notable works include 'Genomics and epidemiology of the P.1 SARS-CoV-2 lineage in Manaus, Brazil' (Science, 2021), which detailed the emergence of the P.1 variant; 'The effect of human mobility and control measures on the COVID-19 epidemic in China' (Science, 2020); 'Zika virus in the Americas: early epidemiological and genetic findings' (Science, 2016); 'Establishment and cryptic transmission of Zika virus in Brazil and the Americas' (Nature, 2017); 'Past and future spread of the arbovirus vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus' (Nature Microbiology, 2019); and 'The early spread and epidemic ignition of HIV-1 in human populations' (Science, 2014). These papers, among others, have amassed over 30,000 citations, underscoring his influence on understanding viral epidemics and informing public health responses, such as real-time genomic surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.