Biography
Dr Elias Allara is a clinical epidemiologist and public health physician based at the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit of the University of Cambridge. He is independently funded by Health Data Research UK and leads efforts to enhance cardiovascular prevention in patients with non-cardiovascular disease across different ancestries, harnessing the power of multiple population-wide and multi-omic datasets. Elias previously undertook his doctoral and postdoctoral research under the supervision of Professors Emanuele Di Angelantonio and Angela Wood at the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. He completed his specialty training in public health and preventive medicine at the University of Turin and his medical training at the Università del Piemonte Orientale, Italy. Alongside his research role, Elias serves as a Senior Public Health Specialist in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention with the Integrated Care System of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, where he leads evaluations of population health management strategies. He also holds an honorary position as a public health consultant with the UK Health Security Agency, and is a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health.
Research
Elias’ research focuses on understanding how molecular, behavioural, and environmental risk factors contribute to the development of cardiovascular and other major diseases, with a particular emphasis on addressing health inequalities. In 2024, he received a four-year fellowship from the HDR UK Big Data for Complex Disease Driver Programme. Through this fellowship, he is developing innovative approaches to improve cardiovascular disease prevention in patients with non-cardiovascular conditions, utilizing large-scale population data and multi-omic analyses across diverse ancestral groups.
Publications
Selected publications (from >150 papers with >14000 citations; h-index >40) are presented below.
Biomedical determinants of health
1. Allara E*, Bell S*, [67 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. Allara E*, Shi W*, [14 authors], Denaxas S#, Wood AM#, Whiteley W#. Burden of cardiovascular diseases from the COVID-19 pandemic to 2024: a national cohort in NHS England. Lancet Public Health, forthcoming
2. 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
3. Allara E, [8 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
4. Ripoll Gallardo A*, Pacelli B*, [5 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
5. 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 * 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 and contributes to various aspects of the MPhil teaching programme. 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 to the supervision of research assistants, PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows 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.
