Dr Werner Leber

Profile

I am a practicing GP in the London borough of Newham and an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London. My research focuses on the early identification of infectious diseases in primary care. I demonstrated that screening for HIV among people attending the GP new registration check in City & Hackney, London, is both effective and cost-effective (the RHIVA studies). Currently, I am working on the TARGET-ID project investigating the identification of people living with blood-borne viruses (HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C) in primary care using machine learning. The project will additionally explore the benefits of providing peer support to people diagnosed in general practice. Target-ID is a collaboration between The Hepatitis C Trust, Positive East, and the universities of Oxford, Leicester and Bristol. It has recently been adopted by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North Thames.

I have also shown that both polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and lateral flow antigen testing (LFT) can accurately detect SARS-CoV-2 infection among patients presenting with mild to moderate flu-like symptoms to general practitioners in Austria (the REAP1 & REAP2 studies). A follow up study (REAP3) examines the impact of an Austrian COVID-19 testing policy on LFT usage and viral epidemiology in the country.

Research

Publications

Please click through to see a complete list of Werner's publications