Peter Byass: global health specialist, epidemiologist, and teacher

Epidemiologist Peter Byass was contributing to covid-19 research—including for the World Health Organization—right up to his sudden death from a heart attack in August.

A specialist in measuring health outcomes in low and middle income countries (LMICs) in Africa and Asia, Byass published more than 300 papers, led work on the health impact of climate change, and campaigned for the election of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as WHO director general in 2017. He had kept in touch with Tedros since supervising the Ethiopian’s doctoral degree when the latter was a student at the University of Nottingham 17 years earlier.

At the daily WHO covid-19 media briefing, days after Byass died, Tedros paid tribute to “my dear friend and mentor who was a committed and talented servant of global health who helped many people shine around the world.”