About Ben Johnson
I trained as a virologist, starting with an undergraduate degree in virology from the University of Warwick, UK. My PhD, in influenza virus genetics and immunoevasion, was from Public Health England and the University of Reading, UK, with Maria Zambon and Wendy Barclay. My research interests then moved to smallpox vaccines, viral ion channels and cell adhesion, while a postdoc at Imperial College London with Geoffrey Smith, FRS. I then joined open-access publisher BioMed Central in 2011 as an editor and then associate publisher and was Head of Communities & Engagement at Springer Nature from 2016, running the Nature Research Communities and other online engagement activities for researchers. I joined Nature Medicine in 2021, with responsibility for news and opinion content, and am based in the London office.
Recent Comments
I loved this story, thank you for sharing it!
Nice job Ben.
Thanks, Yossef!
Thanks so much for sharing your story - both the applications of the research and the effect on your careers.
Thank you for writing our first After the Paper post! It is great to see how everyone's careers progressed in the past year.
Thanks for sharing your latest research, Ros. You were one of our first ever community contributors, back in 2016, so it's so nice to see you writing for us again. Your bee pics are the best!
Validation of assays is not the most glamorous work, but it is so important! Well done
Many thanks for this, Ben. Constructive, clear!
In my 5th week of COVID-19 (since 2 April, we reckon) and I'm also a Behçet's Disease sufferer. Any advice? Interested in the colchicine idea at Montreal Heart Institute. Have all the symptoms of high altitude sickness NOT bronchitis or asthma (am chronic asthmatic, had bronchitis early March).
Particularly interested in your input re children - as regards my 5 and 7 year old grandsons, and the risk in their returning to school. They live in France and are due back on 11 May.
Kind regards,
Victoria
(dob 23/01/1955)
Hi Victoria, thanks for your comment and sorry to hear you are unwell. We don't give any medical advice to individuals through this community, you will have to contact your local health professionals. On children, the latest research continues to show that children usually have mild disease, which is reassuring.
Beautiful!