Anne Johnson transformed policy and understanding of sexual health in Britain, working on the HIV front lines and setting up the landmark National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL).
Driven by experiences visiting the barrios of Venezuela and working with deprived communities as a GP in her hometown of Newcastle, Professor Dame Anne Johnson became increasingly interested in the social determinants of public health.
In 1985 - the height of the HIV epidemic - she joined Middlesex Hospital Medical School (later part of UCL), working with Mike Adler to study sexually-transmitted diseases.
A year later, she had secured NHS funding and a million-pound grant from the Monument Trust to set up HIV services, including the first dedicated wards for AIDS patients. Opened by Diana, Princess of Wales, the image of her holding hands with HIV patients challenged stigma around the disease.
That was an iconic moment. It was amongst Princess Diana's earliest involvement with HIV and, at the time, AIDS was so stigmatised and people were terrified of casual transmission of HIV.
Anne’s research on HIV transmission led her and colleagues to set up the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) in 1990. Famously banned by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as an ‘unsuitable topic for government funding’, it is now among the largest surveys of sexual behaviours in the world. Conducted every 10 years, the surveys have made it possible to track changing behaviours over time, helping to shape decades of sexual health research, policy and practice.
Anne later founded the Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and, with Professor Andrew Hayward, set up FluWatch. The population study showed that many people can contract influenza without developing symptoms, contributing to population immunity. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Anne’s vast expertise in respiratory transmissions was in high demand. She led the response as President of the Academy of Medical Sciences and advised on government committees.
Throughout her career, Anne has advocated for a broad, interdisciplinary approach to tackle major health challenges, co-founding UCL’s Institute for Global Health in 2007. The Institute brings together and trains researchers from diverse fields and published the Lancet’s first commission asserting that climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.
She also established the virtual UCL Health of the Public school to support a new generation of researchers to transcend disciplines and improve health for all.
My ambition for UCL is that it should have the best school of health of the public in the world. Working across disciplines is what makes UCL such an exciting place. On almost any subject you can think of there's a world expert here at UCL.
Anne retired in 2025, but her work continues to change lives at UCL and across the world.
