Prof Sutherland is the site-PI for the Medical Research Council Unit in The Gambia (MRC) and co-leader of the host immunology research task. She is a Professor of Immunology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UK, and Head of the TB research group at the Medical Research Council Unit in The Gambia (West Africa). She is a clinical immunologist with a background in multi-disciplinary analysis of tuberculosis (TB) incorporating immunology, microbiology, health economics, and clinical trials.
Prof Sutherland holds a PhD in Immunology from Monash University, Australia. Her PhD and early post-doctoral career focused on developing therapeutics for stem cell transplant recipients. Her research focus changed to TB when she took up a post-doc position in The Gambia in 2006. She leads the Gambian TB case-contact (TBCC) cohort, which is run in close collaboration with the national TB program to promote health systems strengthening and public engagement.
Prof Sutherland’s current research portfolio includes analysis of mucosal immunity to TB; clinical and immunological analysis of post-TB lung disease; the evaluation and implementation of novel point-of-care prognostic and diagnostic tests; the impact of HIV, COVID, and other co-infections on TB; pre-clinical vaccine development and biomarker discovery for diagnosis and treatment response. She runs several large multi-site trials evaluating new vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
Email: jsutherland@mrc.gm