People
Dr Ash Routen
Research Fellow
School/Department: Population Health Sciences, Department of
Email: ar516@leicester.ac.uk
Address: Diabetes Research Centre Leicester General Hospital Gwendolen Road, Leicester, LE5 4PW
Profile
Dr Ash Routen is a Research Fellow in the Diabetes Research Centre at the University of Leicester. His research focuses on addressing health inequalities, with particular interests in ethnic minority health, multimorbidity, long COVID, genomic diversity, and improving the inclusion and representation of underserved populations in health research and health data.
Ash has contributed to national research and policy initiatives, including reports for Health Data Research UK and the South Asian Health Foundation, and co-authored a chapter on ethnicity-related health inequalities in the 2024 UK Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report. He is also a Co-Investigator on the MRC Co-Trust Toolkit, which aims to improve trust, inclusion, and participation in health research among diverse communities.
Since joining Leicester in 2019, Ash has secured over £4 million in research funding as a Co-Investigator from major funders including the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC). Prior to this, he held academic positions at Loughborough and Durham Universities and trained in Physical Activity and Public Health.
Research
Ash's research focuses on addressing health inequalities through applied public health research, with particular expertise in ethnic minority health, multimorbidity, long COVID, and improving inclusion and diversity in health research. His work seeks to understand and reduce disparities in health outcomes by ensuring that underserved populations are appropriately represented in health data, clinical research, and healthcare delivery. He has a strong interest in the equitable use of routine health data, precision medicine, and the development of inclusive research methods that better reflect the diversity of contemporary populations.
His research is highly interdisciplinary and spans epidemiology, health services research, population health, and implementation science. Through collaborations with national and international partners, he has contributed to evidence that informs policy and practice aimed at improving health equity.
As a co-investigator, Ash has secured over £4 million in research funding from major funders, including the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC). His funded research has supported projects focused on health inequalities, ethnic diversity in health data and genomics, multimorbidity, and the long-term impacts of COVID-19.
Publications
Ten Selected Recent Publications (See more of Dr Routen's publications via Google Scholar).
O’Mahoney LL, Peace A, Gillies CL, Routen A, Highton PJ, Bedford P, Abdala R, Sathanapally H, Chudasama YV, Patel R, Perera R, Hughes SE, Walker H, Funnell MP, Khunti K (2026) Outcome measurement for multiple long-term conditions research across health-care settings: an overview of reviews. BMC Medicine. 2026. doi:10.1186/s12916-026-04970-1.
Quattroni P, Routen A, Alderman J, Argent C, Cushworth S, Dambha-Miller H, Drummond R, Denniston A, Ganguli P, Hamilton N, Ideh U, Khalid S, Kwok A, Laws E, Liu X, Nafilyan V, Palmer J, Pineda-Moncusi M, Sampri A, Tibble H, Torabi F, Valabhji J, Withrow D, Welsh C, Wood AM, Akbari A, Khunti K (2025) Five ways to enhance the diversity and quality of health data. Nature Medicine. 2025. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03545-x.
O’Mahoney LL, Routen A, Gillies CL, Jenkins SA, Almaqhawi A, Ayoubkhani D, Banerjee A, Brightling C, Calvert M, Cassambai S, Ekezie W, Funnell MP, Welford A, Peace A, Evans RA, Jeffers S, Kingsnorth AP, Pareek M, Seidu S, Wilkinson TJ, Willis A, Shafran R, Stephenson T, Sterne J, Ward H, Ward T, Khunti K (2025) The risk of Long Covid symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled studies. Nature Communications. 2025;16:4249. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59012-x.
Tyrer F, Gharibzadeh S, Gillies C, Lawson C, Routen A, et al. (2025) Incidence of diabetes mellitus following hospitalisation for COVID‐19 in the United Kingdom: A prospective observational study. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. 2025;27(2):767–776. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.16071.
Kayani Z, Willis A, Salisu-Olatunji SO, Jeffers S, Khunti K, Routen A (2024) Reporting and representation of underserved groups in intervention studies for patients with multiple long-term conditions: a systematic review. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 2024;117(9):302–317. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/01410768241233109.
Routen A, Lekas H, Harrison J, Khunti K (2023) Intersectionality in health equity research. BMJ. 2023;383:p2953. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p2953.
Routen A, O’Mahoney LL, Banerjee A, Brightling C, Aiyegbusi OL, McMullan C, Turner GM, Hughes SE, Jeyes F, Buckland L, Alder Y, Chong A, Stanton D, Matthews K, Camaradou J, Calvert M, Chaturvedi N, Eggo RM, Elliott P, Evans RA, Haroon S, Herrett E, Dalrymple E, Shafran R, Stephenson T, Sterne J, Ward H, Morley J, Smith N, Gibson A, Khunti K (2023) Patient and public involvement within epidemiological studies of Long Covid in the United Kingdom. Nature Medicine. 2023. doi:10.1038/s41591-023-02251-5.
O’Mahoney LL, Routen A, Ekezie W, Welford A, Zhang A, Karamchandani U, Simms-Williams N, Cassambai S, Ardvani A, Wilkinson TJ, Hawthorne G, Curtis F, Kingsnorth AP, Almaqhawi A, Ward T, Ayoubkhani D, Banerjee A, Calvert M, Shafran R, Stephenson T, Sterne J, Ward H, Evans RA, Gillies CL, Zaccardi F, Wright S, Khunti K (2023) The prevalence and long-term health effects of Long Covid among hospitalised and non-hospitalised populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis. eClinicalMedicine. 2023;55:101762. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101762.
Routen A, Akbari A, Banerjee A, Katikireddi SV, Mathur R, McKee M, Nafilyan V, Khunti K (2022) Strategies to record and use ethnicity information in routine health data. Nature Medicine. 2022;28:1338–1342. doi:10.1038/s41591-022-01842-y.
Routen A, O’Mahoney LL, Ayoubkhani D, Banerjee A, Brightling C, Calvert M, Chaturvedi N, Diamond I, Eggo RM, Elliott P, Evans RA, Haroon S, Herrett E, O’Hara ME, Shafran R, Stanborough J, Stephenson T, Sterne J, Ward H, Khunti K (2022) Understanding and tracking the impact of long Covid in the United Kingdom. Nature Medicine. 2022;28(1):11–17. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01591-4.
Supervision
Ash has co-supervised three doctoral students to completion and has examined postgraduate theses at PhD level.
Current Doctoral Students
Monica Kundu (University of Leicester, UK; 2023–2028)
Role: Lead Supervisor
Thesis: Inequalities in precision medicine among underserved groups
Ardra Giboy (University of Leicester, UK; 2024–2029)
Role: Second Supervisor
Thesis: Public and healthcare professional understanding of race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Manveen Kaur (University of Leicester, UK; 2025–2029)
Role: Lead Supervisor
Thesis: An exploration of coping with later-life caregiving for cardiometabolic conditions in India: a mixed-methods study
Enos Sekwo (University of Leicester, UK; 2023–2028)
Role: Lead Supervisor
Thesis: Developing a framework to increase diversity in genomic studies
Completed Doctoral Students
Zara Kayani (University of Leicester, UK; 2022–2026)
Role: Lead Supervisor
Thesis: Advancing understanding of multimorbidity management in ethnic minority populations and under-representation in associated clinical research
Ellen Hopwood (University of Leicester, UK; 2021–2025)
Role: Third Supervisor
Thesis: Advancing understanding of the self-management of multimorbidity
Anna Chalkley (Loughborough University, UK; 2016–2020)
Role: Member, Supervisory Team
Thesis: Implementation evaluation of a primary school-based running programme
Teaching
Ash has experience of teaching on undergraduate courses, including leading modules, leading seminars, and delivering guest lectures.
Module Leader
School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, UK; 2017
Module: 22PSC032 - Physical Activity and Health of Children (Final Year Undergraduate)
Module Contributions (Guest Lectures)
School of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Worcester, UK; 2009-2011
Module: SPRT3024 - Physical Activity in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease.
Press and media
Selected Media Experience:
BBC Radio Leicester Live Interview – in relation to paper on ethnic minority bereavement during Covid-19; March 2021.
BBC Radio Leicester Live Interview – in relation recruitment of ethnic minority communities to research during Covid-19; March 2021.
ITV East Midlands Recorded Television Interview – In relation to physically active learning in schools; 2018.
BBC One Live Television Interview – In relation to BBC Supermovers project launch; 2018.
Activities
Ash has acted as a peer-reviewer for over 30 public health journals such as The Lancet, International Journal of Epidemiology and BMJ Open. In addition he has reviewed grant applications for a variety of funding bodies:
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Policy Research Programme, Subject Matter Expert; 2022.
- UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Medical Research Council UK (MRC), OFFICIAL UK-India COVID-19 Partnership Initiative; 2021.
- Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity Research Fund, Project Grant; 2016.
- Medical Research Council UK (MRC), Methodology Research Panel; 2014
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East Midlands (CLAHRC EM); 2014.
He has also provided consultancy for the South Asian Health Foundation, Public Health England, UNESCO, Youth Sport Trust, BBC and the English Premier League.
Qualifications
- PhD - Physical Activity and Public Health University of Worcester (2013)
- PGCert - Research Methods University of Worcester (2009)
- MSc - Sport and Health Sciences University of Exeter (2008)
- BSc - Exercise and Sport Sciences University of Exeter (2007)