April 21st 2022

Professor Sir John Bell

Professor Sir John Bell GBE, FRS is Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford. He served as President of the Academy of Medical Sciences from 2006 to 2011 and chaired the Office for the Strategic Coordination of Health Research until 2017. As a Rhodes Scholar (1975-78), Sir John undertook his medical training in the UK and then went on to Stanford University, returning to the UK in 1987.

His research interests are in the area of autoimmune disease and immunology where he has contributed to the understanding of immune activation in a range of autoimmune diseases. In 1993, he founded the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, one of the world’s leading centres for complex trait common disease genetics.

Sir John holds numerous non-executive directorships. In 2008 he joined the Gates Foundation Global Health Advisory Board which he has chaired since 2012; he is Chair of the Rhodes Trust; and he sits on the board of Genomics England Limited where he also chairs its Science Advisory Committee.

Sir John was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to medicine, medical research and the life science industry.

Sir John has held prominent roles during the Covid epidemic, enabling the development of the testing platforms for lateral flow tests and helping to initiate the PCR programme nationally as well as helping to manage the relationship with Astra Zeneca that produced the Oxford AZ vaccine.

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