Heading

Helen and Francis Zimmern Professor in Population Health, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)

Ben Cowling is currently Chair Professor of Epidemiology and head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, and co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control. He conducts research into the epidemiology of respiratory virus infections, with a focus on transmission dynamics and the effectiveness of control measures including vaccination. Since early 2020 he has conducted research on the epidemiology and control of COVID-19 including highly cited publications in NEJM, Science and Nature Medicine. He holds major research grants to study how individual measures of immunity translate to population immunity, and to estimate the impact of public health measures for influenza and COVID-19. He has authored more than 800 peer-reviewed journal publications to date. He is Editor-in-Chief of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, and an Associate Editor of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. In June 2021 he was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to public health and COVID-19 research.

Publications

Recent publications:

• Yang B, Gostic KM, Adam DC, Zhang R, Einav T, Peng L, Wong SS, Tsang TK, Cummings DAT, Sullivan SG, Cobey S, Cowling BJ. Breadth of influenza A antibody cross-reactivity varies by virus isolation interval and subtype. Nat Microbiol. 2025 Jul;10(7):1711-1722. doi: 10.1038/s41564-025-02033-4. Epub 2025 Jun 10. PMID: 40494885.
  
• Monto AS, Kuhlbusch K, Bernasconi C, Cao B, Cohen HA, Graham E, Hurt AC, Katugampola L, Kamezawa T, Lauring AS, McLean B, Takazono T, Widmer A, Wildum S, Cowling BJ. Efficacy of Baloxavir Treatment in Preventing Transmission of Influenza. N Engl J Med. 2025 Apr 24;392(16):1582-1593. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2413156. PMID: 40267424. 
• Wong JY, Lim WW, Cheung JK, Murphy C, Shiu EYC, Xiao J, Chen D, Xie Y, Li M, Xin H, Szeto M, Choi S, Cowling BJ. Non-pharmaceutical interventions to reduce influenza transmission in households: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Infect Dis. 2025 Jan;150:107291. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107291. Epub 2024 Nov 4. PMID: 39505255; PMCID: PMC11652706. 
• Cowling BJ, Wong SS, Santos JJS, Touyon L, Ort JT, Ye N, Kwok NKM, Ho F, Cheng SMS, Ip DKM, Peiris M, Webby RJ, Wilson PC, Valkenburg SA, Tsang JS, Leung NHL, Hensley SE, Cobey S. Preliminary Findings From the Dynamics of the Immune Responses to Repeat Influenza Vaccination Exposures (DRIVE I) Study: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2024 Oct 15;79(4):901-909. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciae380. PMID: 39041887; PMCID: PMC11478574. 
• McMenamin ME, Nealon J, Lin Y, Wong JY, Cheung JK, Lau EHY, Wu P, Leung GM, Cowling BJ. Vaccine effectiveness of one, two, and three doses of BNT162b2 and CoronaVac against COVID-19 in Hong Kong: a population-based observational study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022 Oct;22(10):1435-1443. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00345-0. Epub 2022 Jul 15. Erratum in: Lancet Infect Dis. 2022 Sep;22(9):e239. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00511-4. PMID: 35850128; PMCID: PMC9286709.