Director, Dr. Saverio Stranges

Dr. Saverio Stranges is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University (since October 2016). He holds cross-appointments as Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Medicine. In August 2020, he was also appointed as Director of the Africa Institute at Western University. Dr. Stranges completed his medical education in 1996 (cum laude), and specialty training in Preventive and Public Health Medicine in 2000 at the University of Naples Federico II. He then completed the requirements for a PhD Program in Epidemiology and Environmental Health in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2004. In 2005, Dr. Stranges began his academic career as an Assistant Professor at State University of New York before returning to Europe to join the University of Warwick Medical School in the UK. From 2006 to 2015, he was an Associate Clinical Professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology in the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Warwick Medical School. In Warwick, Dr. Stranges was also Director of the Academic Clinical Training in Public Health, as well as Honorary Consultant Physician at the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, where he worked in the Lipid and Coronary Prevention outpatient clinics within the Warwickshire Institute for the Study of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism. Prior to his appointment at Western University in Canada, Dr. Stranges worked as Scientific Director of the Department of Population Health at the Luxembourg Institute of Health, in Luxembourg (2015/16).

Dr. Stranges is a medical doctor, public health specialist and chronic disease epidemiologist, with extensive experience in the field of epidemiology and public health research. His research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of chronic disease and aging across the life-course, specifically regarding the role of lifestyles, behavioral and psychosocial factors, such as dietary patterns, sleep behaviors and social determinants of health. He is also interested in global health, especially in the area of cardio-metabolic disease in low-resource settings, as well as in interdisciplinary research. Throughout his career, Dr. Stranges has been involved in several international epidemiological projects, clinical trials, secondary data analyses and systematic review work, and has published extensively in epidemiology and public health research, with over 320 publications as scientific articles, reviews and book chapters (H-index=83). He has received several international awards, in particular for his research on the epidemiology and prevention of cardio-metabolic disease (e.g., from the American Heart Association). His research has been funded by several international agencies as the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in the UK, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Health Canada in Canada, the Fonds National de la Recherché (FNR) in Luxembourg, and the European Union.

Dr. Stranges has been involved in the teaching and mentoring of undergraduate, master, and doctoral students, as well as clinical fellows, residents and junior doctors for over twenty years. In November 2023, Dr. Stranges was elected as President of the Chronic Disease Section for the European Public Health Association. He is also Professor (part-time) in the Department of Clinical Medicine & Surgery, University of Naples Federico II, Italy, and Visiting Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health, at Humanitas University, in Italy, and at the University of Luxembourg, as well as fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA). He has wide experience with media engagement. He is an Associate Editor for several scientific journals including the International Journal of Public Health; European Journal of Public Health; BMC Public Health; Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease (NMCD); Sleep Health.

Selected Publications:

• Stranges S, Tigbe W, Gómez-Olivé XF, Thorogood M, Kandala N-B. Sleep Problems: an Emerging Global Epidemic? Findings from the INDEPTH WHO-SAGE study among over 40,000 older adults from eight countries across Africa and Asia. Sleep 2012;35(8):1173–1181.
• Kandala N-B, Tigbe W, Manda SOM, Stranges S. Geographic variation of Hypertension in Sub-Saharan Africa: a case study of South-Africa. Am J Hypertens. 2013;26(3):382-91.
• Kandala N-B, Stranges S. Geographic Variation of overweight and obesity among women in Nigeria: a case for nutritional transition in Sub-Saharan Africa. PLoS One. 2014;9(6):e101103
  
  Keywords: cardio-metabolic disease epidemiology and prevention, nutritional epidemiology, sleep patterns, quality of life and aging research, global health, social determinants, Africa.
  
  For Further publications visit here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Stranges+S+Africa