Getting hold of Ian Lipkin is understandably difficult, with the time difference in the US, his ferocious timetable, and a PA with the temperament of a rottweiler, to contend with. “He hasn’t had much sleep,” she keeps telling me when I try to find a slot in his ridiculously busy schedule.

But then, as one of the most eminent, famous and successful scientists of our age, with more titles and letters after his name than an arrivals board, and a punishing work regime, he needs someone with the zeal of a lioness to protect his time.

Coming to Oxford Playhouse tomorrow night, you will be able to see Ian in the flesh when he ‘promotes the public understanding of science’, for the annual Charles Simonyi lecture. Known as ‘the virus hunter’, Ian has an enormous remit to choose from in terms of subject matter, trawling through his experiences studying HIV/AIDS, SARS and pandemic influenza, reviewing how bacteria, fungi and viruses cause illness, why new infections appear and the implications of the emerging field of microbiology.

However, the 61-year-old is surprisingly media-savvy, and a far cry from the cliched stuffy scientist, making the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology, Professor of Neurology and Pathology, and Director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University, the perfect man for the job of translating into layman’s terms the intricacies of the scientific projects he’s involved with, which, combined with a mischievous sense of humour, make him a delight to talk to. “I’m excited about coming to Oxford and have been preparing for some time by watching old episodes of Inspector Morse,” he teases. He then pokes fun at me when I infer that his fame and notoriety must drag him away from his precious laboratory more than he likes. “I don’t pour liquids from one test tube into another. I can work remotely and electronically. Which means I’ve been to a lot of interesting places and seen a lot of interesting things.”

But he also places great importance on keeping the public in the loop: “An early mentor said to me ‘if you don’t challenge the imagination of the people paying for the work, ie the public, you will be out of a job’,” he says seriously.

Which is why Ian was the scientific consultant for the Steven Soderbergh film Contagion, having dedicated his life to preventing such an epidemic. “It was our turn to redress the balance and show from a development stage the risk of an epidemic while producing something with some social redemption to it. So the film had to be plausible not fantastical.”

This meant training the cast — he spent two days with Jude Law and Kate Winslet — as well as ensuring it was accurate, from the virus in question to the costumes used. “It was a lot of fun. They [the actors] have a good life and are all intelligent people, so it was a unique opportunity that I may be doing again soon.”

What of criticism that films are nothing more than a vanity project then? “In the US we have a huge science funding challenge so I used Contagion to explain to people what we do and in so doing exploded the myths and explained the safety of vaccines and why they are needed, as well as involving people in the outcome, and in so doing turned scientists into heroes. There was no one else who had that opportunity apart from me, so I did it,” he shrugs. “because the biggest scientific problem is regulatory.”

Then he pauses and puts it another way: “JFK flies to 70 airports within a 14-hour period, and Heathrow is no different, so [an epidemic] would be in both places almost instantly, it’s just a matter of time, so the action has to be universal.”

Ian was right there in the crux of the SARS epidemic, and sequenced a portion of the SARS virus directly from lung tissue, establishing a sensitive assay for infection, as well as hand-carrying 10,000 test kits to Beijing at the height of the outbreak. He became ill shortly after returning to the US and was quarantined.

So what was the reality like? “The Chinese responded very well after SARS,” he tells me. “The difference between 2003 and 2013 is that there is now a transparent collaboration and the world must keep moving in that direction. Because you cannot overemphasise the risk of a pandemic, so it’s never scaremongering, just trying to educate the people who need to be more open to the process.”

Yet science is a famously competitive field, so it’s hard to imagine them collaborating so easily. “We don’t all get together and sing Kumbaya My Lord. The race is on and all it takes is to win the race,” Ian confirms. So is he winning? “We win some, we lose some, and if you win more than you lose, you stay in the game,” he chuckles.

What’s Ian working on at the moment then, for example? “We are trying to resolve the origins of the MERS virus, find a new Hepatitis C model because we can’t use chimpanzees anymore, colon cancer, chronic fatigue virus, the causes of stillbirth and premature birth, and an exciting new development involving the microflora in the vaginas of Sub-Saharan African women concerning HIV, so a lot of interesting work. We are always trying to find ways of identifying the agents before they become a threat in the developed world.”

No wonder that his PA is so concerned about a rest. “I don’t sleep much, four hours a night gives me an extra five hours to play with. I could probably do with a bit more, but I can sleep on the plane when I come to Oxford,” he says cheerfully.

And while he’s here what will he be doing? “Oxford for me is great, it’s a beautiful part of the world, although I live in Manhattan so I’m not complaining, but I have two days in Oxford to fill so I look forward to it, in particular some good pub fare,” he grins.

 

The World’s Greatest Virus Hunter
Oxford Playhouse
Tomorrow (Friday) at 5pm
01865 305305 or oxfordplayhouse.com