IVVN board members awarded for their services to animal and public health

Two members of the International Veterinary Vaccinology Network (IVVN)'s Network Management Board have been recognised in the Queen’s birthday honours list.

Professor Fiona Tomley, Professor of Experimental Parasitology at the Royal Veterinary College, was awarded a CBE for services to animal health. Professor Tomley is director of the UKRI GCRF One Health Poultry Hub, an interdisciplinary research programme working in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Responding to her award, Professor Tomley said:

I am both surprised and thrilled at this news. I always felt lucky to be born into a generation with access to state-supported university education, and to have parents who encouraged me to pursue a dream of ‘doing science’ when many women from a similar background were actively deterred from having careers.

The past year has once again highlighted that understanding the root causes, detection, prevention and treatment of infectious disease is critically important. I hope this will stimulate the next generation of women, and men, to pursue the most exciting, challenging and rewarding of careers. Science may not be everything but as Rosalind Franklin said, ‘Science, for me, gives a partial explanation for life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience and experiment.

Professor Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute and Lakshmi Mittal and Family Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, received an honorary knighthood for services to science and public health. Professor Hill is a key member of the team behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

Responding to his award, Professor Hill said:

I am delighted to receive this award which reflects the efforts of so many colleagues at the Jenner Institute. This recognises not just the extraordinary efforts of those who worked on the COVID vaccine programme, but also a remarkable sequence of talented students, research fellows and senior investigators over the last 25 years.

Their efforts in designing, developing and clinically testing vaccines against globally important diseases allowed us to select the most effective vaccine type to address the pandemic. Hopefully, today’s awards will encourage more aspiring scientists to consider a career in vaccinology which has ever widening life-saving applications, as illustrated so well over the last year.

IVVN director Dr Timothy Connelley said:

The IVVN is so fortunate to have Fiona and Adrian as key members of the board. Their recognition in the honours list is well deserved and reflects on the importance of their work and the contributions both have made to the animal health and vaccine research communities during their careers.

Others rewarded in the Queen's birthday honours list include Professor Sarah Gilbert from the Jenner Institute, who received a damehood, and Professor Teresa Lambe, who received an honorary OBE.

Full list of Queen's birthday honours and honorary awards.