Sam was appointed as Head of Vaccination and Immunisation Division in October 2023. Sam has held several senior professional leadership roles in health protection in the United Kingdom since the early 2000s – Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (CDSC), Director of Health Protection Unit (HPA), Deputy Director of Health Protection (PHE), and most recently Regional Deputy Director of Health Protection, Northwest UKHSA.
Sam is a Medical Doctor (MD), and prior to coming to the UK, Sam worked as a GP and Regional Director of Public Health Programmes in Western part of Ethiopia.
Sam has specialist interests in immunisation, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), Environmental Public Health practice, Training and Research.
Sam is the founder and principal editor of the first textbook in health protection – “Health Protection: Principles and Practice”, published by Oxford University Press in 2016, and he has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, presented at regional, national, and international conferences.
