After five years of hospital-based clinical medicine, Van-Tam pursued academic training in public health and epidemiology and developed an interest in influenza and respiratory viruses, mentored for many years by Professor Karl Nicholson. He became a Senior Lecturer at the University of Nottingham in 1997, before joining the pharmaceutical industry as an Associate Director at SmithKline Beecham in 2000. In April 2001 he moved to Roche as Head of Medical Affairs, before joining Aventis Pasteur MSD in February 2002 as UK Medical Director. Van-Tam returned to the public sector in 2004 at the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, where he was Head of the Pandemic Influenza Office until October 2007. He then returned to Nottingham as Professor of Health Protection. He has published over 100 scientific papers and written for textbooks. He chaired the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Expert Advisory Group on H5N1 human vaccines, sits on the UK national Scientific Pandemic Influenza Committee, and was a member of the UK Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies during the 2009-10 pandemic. He is Co-Editor of the textbook Introduction to Pandemic Influenza and was editor-in-chief of the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses from 2014 to 2017. His unit is an officially designated WHO Collaborating Centre for pandemic influenza and research and a UK Faculty of Public Health 'National Treasure' research training location. Since 2014 he has been Chair of the UK government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group. On 2 October 2017 he took up the role of Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England. In this capacity, he gained nationwide visibility during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, he was appointed to the expert advisory group for the UK Government’s Vaccine Task Force, chaired by Patrick Vallance.
Recognition
Van-Tam was awarded an MBE in the 1998 New Year's Honours as Acting Maj Jonathan Stafford Nguyen-Van-Tam, Lincolnshire Army Cadet Force. It was awarded in recognition of his work in designing a first aid kit to meet the special requirements of large groups of teenagers on camping expeditions. This sprang from his work with the Lincolnshire Army Cadets since 1988. His ideas were accepted by the Ministry of Defence.
