Biography
Dr Elias Allara is a clinical epidemiologist and public health physician working at the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit of the University of Cambridge. In this unit, he conducted postdoctoral research in Professor Angela Wood’s group and earned a PhD under the supervision of Professor Emanuele Di Angelantonio. Previously, Elias completed specialty training in public health medicine at the University of Turin and medical training at the Università del Piemonte Orientale, Italy. Alongside his research role, he serves as an honorary public health consultant, contributing locally to the Integrated Care System of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and nationally to the UK Health Security Agency. Elias is a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health.
Research
Elias investigates the relevance of iron on the onset of several cardiometabolic diseases and contributes to genetic discovery studies of iron biomarkers. His postdoctoral work is performed as part of the BigData@Heart initiative at the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit (Dr Angela Wood), and in close collaboration with the NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit in Donor Health and Genomics (Professor Emanuele Di Angelantonio).
During the COVID-19 pandemics, Elias joined the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium. He contributes to generating internal audit reports to enable swift and geographically homogenous sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 samples across the UK. These efforts are aimed to improve both public health response and epidemiological research.
Elias maintains interest in researching both biomedical and behavioural/environmental determinants of cardiovascular diseases, and is open to requests for collaborations.
Publications
Selected publications (from >150 papers with >13000 citations; h-index >40) are presented below.
Biomedical determinants of health
1. Allara E*, Bell S*, [67 co-authors], Danesh J#, Pereira A#, Wood AM, Butterworth AS, Di Angelantonio E#. Novel loci and biomedical consequences of iron homoeostasis variation. Commun Biol. 2024 Dec 6;7(1):1631
2. Karjalainen MK*, Karthikeyan*, Oliver-Williams C, Sliz E, Allara E, [93 authors], Kettunen J. Genome-wide characterization of circulating metabolic biomarkers. Nature. 2024 Apr;628(8006):130-138
3. Lee WH, Larsson SC, Wood A, Di Angelantonio E, Butterworth AS, Burgess S, Allara E. Genetically predicted plasma cortisol and common chronic diseases: A Mendelian randomization study. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2024 Mar;100(3):238-24
4. Codd V, Wang Q*, Allara E*, Musicha C*, Kaptoge S*, [22 authors], Samani NJ. Polygenic basis and biomedical consequences of telomere length variation. Nat Genet. 2021 Oct;53(10):1425-1433
5. Pinato DJ, Howlett S, [17 co-authors], Allara E*, Bower M*. Association of Prior Antibiotic Treatment With Survival and Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy in Patients With Cancer. JAMA Oncol. 2019 Sep 12. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.2785.
Behavioural and environmental determinants of health
1. Bountziouka V*, Musicha C*, Allara E, [9 authors], Samani NJ. Modifiable traits, healthy behaviours, and leukocyte telomere length: a population-based study in UK Biobank. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2022 May;3(5):e321-e331
2. Allara E, [8 co-authors], Faggiano F. Effects of a prevention program on multiple health-compromising behaviours in adolescence: A cluster randomized controlled trial. Prev Med. 2019 Jul;124:1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.04.001
3. Ripoll Gallardo A*, Pacelli B*, [5 co-authors], Allara E. Medium- and long-term health effects of earthquakes in high-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Epidemiol. 2018 Aug 1;47(4):1317-1332.
4. Allara E, Ferri M, Bo A, Gasparrini A, Faggiano F. Are mass-media campaigns effective in preventing drug use? A Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open. 2015 Sep 3;5(9):e007449.
5. Faggiano F, Allara E, [6 co-authors], Patricia Conrod. Europe Needs a Central, Transparent, and Evidence-Based Approval Process for Behavioural Prevention Interventions. PLoS Med. 2014 Oct 7;11(10):e1001740
* joint lead authors # joint senior authors
Teaching and Supervisions
Elias lectures in the Research Skills module of the MPhil in Population Health Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Previously, Elias taught research methods and epidemiology at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Italy and the UK. Elias is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Elias contributes informally to the supervision of a research assistant, a PhD student, and four research associates on specific projects. He is open to enquires regarding potential PhD supervision.
Other Professional Activities
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Elias joined the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium. He led internal auditing efforts to enable swift and geographically homogeneous sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 samples across the UK. In this capacity, he also participated in the activities of the UK Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) Ethnicity Subgroup.
