Council membership
The Council is the MRC’s governing body. It directs and oversees corporate policy and science strategy, ensures that the MRC is effectively managed, and takes major policy and spending decisions. The Council consists of the Chairman, the Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman, and 12 other members. The Council members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in accordance with the code of practice issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
This page shows the current members of the MRC Council. To view their personal profiles, click on the links below.
- Sir John Chisholm, MRC Chairman, London
- Sir John Savill, Deputy Chair of Council
- Professor Jeffrey Almond, Sanofi Pasteur, France
- Professor Michael Arthur, University of Leeds
- Tony Caplin, Chairman of North West London Hospital NHS Trust
- Professor Dame Sally C Davies, Director General of Research and Development, Department of Health
- Professor Chris Day, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University
- Dr Annette Doherty, OBE, Pfizer Global Research and Development, Groton, CT, USA
- Dr Richard Henderson, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge
- Professor Dame, Sally Macintyre, MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow
- Ms Vivienne Parry, Writer and Broadcaster, London
- Lord Naren Patel, House of Lords, Dunkeld
- Professor Michael Schneider, National Heart and Lung Institute, London
- Professor Paul Morgan
Sir John Chisholm, MRC Chairman, London
Sir John Chisholm became Chairman of the MRC in October 2006.
Sir John has been Chairman of QinetiQ since 2005, after transforming the company in his time as Chief Executive. He is widely credited with turning the organisation from a collection of research laboratories into a successful commercial business which floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 2006. Sir John retired from QinetiQ in February 2010.
In 1979 Sir John founded and became Managing Director of CAP Scientific Ltd, the company grew rapidly to become a core part of the CAP Group plc. Following this, Sir John became UK Managing Director of Sema Group plc. In 1991 Sir John was asked by the UK Government to bring together the UK Defence Research Establishments to form one new organisation which was to become DERA. Sir John guided the organisation through its launch into the commercial world as QinetiQ, in July 2001.
Sir John is the immediate past President and Trustee of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (formerly the Institution of Electrical Engineers) and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Institute of Physics. Sir John was a founder member of the UK Government’s Technology Foresight programme. He was knighted in 1999. Sir John was appointed Chairman of NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) on the first of November 2009.
Sir John Savill, Deputy Chair of Council
Professor Sir John Savill BA, MBChB, PhD, FRCP, FRCPE, FASN, FMedSci, FRSE took up the position as chief executive and deputy chair of the Medical Research Council (MRC) on 1 October 2010. The appointment is for three years.
Before taking up the post of chief executive, Sir John was the first vice-principal and head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, having held this position since 2002. He retains an ongoing, research-active involvement with the University of Edinburgh part-time throughout his appointment as MRC chief executive.
Between 2008 and 2010, Sir John also worked part-time as the chief scientist for the Scottish Government Health Directorates. He was knighted in the 2008 New Year’s Honours List for services to clinical science.
Sir John started out in his career with a degree in Physiological Sciences from Oxford University in 1978, followed by a post-graduate degree in Medicine at the University of Sheffield in 1981. He received a PhD from the University of London in 1989.
After junior hospital appointments in Sheffield, Nottingham and London, he spent seven years in the Department of Medicine at Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS), with spells as an MRC clinical training fellow and Wellcome Trust senior clinical research fellow.
In 1993, he moved to the chair of Medicine, Nottingham, and then in 1998 became professor of Medicine, Edinburgh, where he was the first director of the University of Edinburgh/MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, directing a group interested in the molecular cell biology of renal inflammation. He was a member of the Medical Research Council from 2002 to 2008 and chaired two research boards during this period.
Professor Jeffrey Almond, Sanofi Pasteur, France
Professor Jeffrey Almond is Vice-President, Discovery Research and External Research and Development at Sanofi Pasteur. He was formerly Head of the School of Animal and Microbial Sciences at the University of Reading. He has served on several Public Bodies including the Government’s Spongiform Encephalopathies Advisory Committee (SEAC).
Professor Almond is currently involved in numerous projects relating to vaccines and immune modulators. He has global responsibilities for platforms in microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, formulation and bioinformatics. He also has responsibility for identifying collaborative opportunities relating to vaccine and therapeutic targets and technologies. Throughout his career spanning academia and industry, Professor Almond has published over 160 scientific papers on microbial pathogenesis and immunology, vaccine research and development and virus replication and biology.
Professor Almond is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Professor Michael Arthur, University of Leeds
Professor Michael Arthur is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds and was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences at the University of Southampton. Professor Arthur chairs the Board of the Russell Group of Universities.
Professor Arthur’s expertise in liver research in internationally acknowledged. His academic awards include the American Liver Foundation Research Prize in 1987, a fellowship at the University of California in San Francisco from 1988 – 1990 and a Fulbright distinguished scholar award from 2002 – 2003. Professor Arthur was a founding fellow (1998) of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Professor Arthur is a commissioner for the UK/US Fulbright Commission and is a member of the Board of Yorkshire Forward and
Tony Caplin, Chairman of North West London Hospital NHS Trust
Tony Caplin became chairman of North West London Hospital NHS Trust on 1 July 2008, having previously been chair of Ealing Hospital and Durlacher Plc and deputy chair of Barts and the London NHS Trust. Tony was chairman of one of the oldest City Stockbrokers, Panmure Gordon as well as chairman of Urban Wimax Plc.
He is Chairman of Alternative Networks Plc and deputy Chairman of Strand Partners, a commissioner on the Public Works Loan Board and is also a trustee of the Family Holiday Association.
Professor Dame Sally C Davies, Director General of Research and Development, Department of Health
Professor Dame Sally Davies is the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), advising the UK government. She holds responsibility for Research and Development (R&D), and is the Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Health.
The CMO is the independent advisor to the Government on all medical matters, with particular responsibilities regarding Public Health. In particular, she provides professional leadership for Directors of Public Health and will lead a public health professional network for those responsible for commissioning and providing public health services.
The CMO supports the Health Secretary in strengthening the Government’s collective effort to protect, promote and improve the health and wellbeing of the people of England.
The CMO carries the rank of Permanent Secretary and advises the Secretary of State for Health on medical matters. She is also the professional head of the Department’s medical staff and head of the Medical Civil service.
Sally has been actively involved in NHS R&D from its establishment. As DG, she established the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) with a budget of £1 billion.
Sally led the UK delegations to the WHO Ministerial Summit in November 2004 and the WHO Forum on Health Research in November 2008. She spoke on R&D at the World Health Assembly May 2005 and is a member of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Health Research (ACHR). She also chaired the Expert Advisory Committee for the development of the WHO research strategy, endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 2010. She is a member of the International Advisory Committee for A*STAR, Singapore and has advised many others on research strategy and evaluation including the Australian NHMRC.
Her own research interests focused on Sickle Cell disease.
Professor Chris Day, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University
Professor Day qualified from Cambridge in 1983 and subsequently trained in General Medicine and Hepatology in Newcastle, becoming a Consultant Hepatologist on the Liver Unit at the Freeman Hospital Newcastle upon Tyne in 1994 and Professor of Liver Medicine University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 2000. He was formerly Head of the School of Clinical Medical Sciences at Newcastle University and since April 2008 has been Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Medical Sciences. His research interests are focused largely on fatty liver disease related both to obesity and to alcohol with additional interests in drug-induced liver injury and liver fibrosis. His work has been funded by the MRC and the Wellcome Trust; he is a former MRC Clinical Training Fellow and Clinician Scientist Fellow.
In 1999 he was the Goulstonian Lecturer of the Royal College of Physicians and in 2000 was awarded the research gold medal of the British Society of Gastroenterology. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an NIHR Senior Investigator. He is also Co-Editor for the Journal of Hepatology, and is on the Executive of the Medical Schools Council.
Dr Annette Doherty, OBE, Pfizer Global Research and Development, Groton, CT, USA
Annette Doherty is Senior Vice President, Sandwich Site Leader, PharmaTherapeutics. Annette brings 25 years of respected global leadership and scientific experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She has local and global line leadership experience and has worked in several different locations (US, France and UK). From November 2008 to June 2011, Annette lead the Global Pharmaceutical Sciences organization of over 2500 scientists worldwide responsible for the design, selection, formulation and clinical supply of medicines to patients delivering across the Research and Development continuum to launch of medicines.
From June 2003 to November 2008, she served as Site Leader and then combined with Research Head of Sandwich Laboratories, Pfizer’s largest European R and D facility. Her combined role involved leadership of Research Therapeutic areas at the site, which were allergy and respiratory, antivirals, pain and genitourinary disease.
In July 2000, after the Pfizer acquisition of Warner-Lambert, Annette assumed the post of Site Head and Discovery leader in Fresnes, France, where she was Director of Research for Institut de Recherche Jouveinal. Annette joined Parke-Davis in 1987 as a Senior Scientist in the Department of Chemistry at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
After receiving a first class honours degree BSc in chemistry from Imperial College of Science and Technology at the University of London, UK, Annette obtained a PhD in organic chemistry at Imperial College of Science and Technology working with Professor Steve Ley. She was the winner of a NATO fellowship, and did two years of postdoctoral research with Professor Leo Paquette at The Ohio State University in Columbus.
In October 2009, Annette received an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) recognition by the Queen for her then 22 years of service to the pharmaceutical industry. In 2011, she was elected to the Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2008, she was selected to serve as the UK Industry Representative on the Medical Research Council (MRC). Annette was elected Vice-Chair, Secretary and Chair of the division of Medicinal Chemistry of the American Chemical Society in 1995-1999. She served as Editor-In-Chief of the publication Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry during 1999-2005. Annette was also Chair of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Research and Development group from 2005-2009 and served as the UK pharmaceutical representative of the advisory strategy group for the Government’s National Technology Strategy Board (TSB).
Annette has published more than 100 scientific manuscripts and written 19 reviews in the areas in which she has worked. She is author/inventor of over 30 patents in various areas of research. She received an honorary degree of Doctorate of Science from the University of Greenwich, UK for her Scientific Leadership in Health, Research and contributions to education in 2007.
Dr Richard Henderson, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge
Dr Richard Henderson is a member of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge. He was Joint-Head of the Division of Structural Studies at the LMB from 1986 until 2001, and Director from 1996 until 2006. He is a Scientific Advisory Board member of MRC Technology, is founder and Non-Executive Director of Heptares Therapeutics and has exceptional experience of translational research and start-up company development.
Dr Henderson’s work focuses on the structural biology of proteins. He is currently using advanced electron cryomicroscopy to determine the atomic structure of large protein assemblies. This method is being used to solve many outstanding problems in structural biology. He has previously worked to solve a number of the technical and conceptual problems which limited the resolution of electron crystallography and, together with colleagues, succeeded in obtaining the first atomic structure of the membrane protein, bacteriorhodopsin. He has been awarded several prizes for his work over the years.
Dr Henderson is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Professor Dame, Sally Macintyre, MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow
Professor Dame Sally Macintyre is Director of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow; and Honorary Director of the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. She previously held research posts in both Aberdeen University and the MRC Medical Sociology Unit in Aberdeen. Professor Macintyre was awarded an OBE for services to Medical Sociology in 1998 and a CBE for services to Social Science in 2006, and an honorary DSc by the University of Aberdeen in 2005.
A medical sociologist, recently she has researched socioeconomic and spatial inequalities in health across time and over the life course, using data from individuals, households and areas to improve understanding of the significance of the social and physical environment for health. Current interests include the potential of area-based health promotion initiatives, the role of neighbourhood barriers and facilitators for health, and developing an evidence-base for health improvement and reducing health inequalities. She is also interested in perceptions of risk, and the understandings and use of public health research by the public, policymakers, practitioners, and the press.
Professor Macintyre is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of Medicine and the Academy of Medical Sciences and is an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Ms Vivienne Parry, Writer and Broadcaster, London
Vivienne Parry is a writer and broadcaster specialising in science and medicine. She writes and presents many programmes for BBC Radio 4 including the series 'Am I normal'. She is a regular contributor for The Times and also contributes features to a wide range of other magazines and newspapers. She is the author of several books including 'The Truth about Hormones' which was shortlisted for the Aventis Prize in 2006.
Vivienne has presented Tomorrow's World and reported for Panorama. She and was a campaigning columnist for the News of the World for four years.
Vivienne has a degree in immunology and genetics. She has a broad view of medicine, working at the interface between medical science and the public.
Lord Naren Patel, House of Lords, Dunkeld
Lord Patel is currently retired and sits in the House of Lords where he is a member of the Science and Technology Committee. He received a knighthood in 1997 and elevation to the Peerage in 1999. He is currently Chancellor of the University of Dundee, Vice President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Chairman of the UK Stem Cell Oversight Committee, the UK Stem Cell Network and the National Patient Safety Agency of England and Wales.
Lord Patel’s academic and clinical interests are in the field of high-risk obstetrics. His research papers have made a significant contribution in the areas of premature labour, fetal growth retardation and obstetric epidemiology. He has contributed to the NHS by leading several advisory groups and acted as a Fellow, Vice-President and President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of the College of Surgeons of both England and Edinburgh.
Lord Patel is patron to a number of healthcare charities in the UK and overseas.
Professor Michael Schneider, National Heart and Lung Institute, London
Professor Michael Schneider was appointed as Head of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College, London in September 2007. He is the British Heart Foundation Simon Marks Professor of Regenerative Cardiology and Director of Imperial's British Heart Foundation Centre for Research Excellence. He became Head of the National Heart and Lung Institute in January 2009.
Professor Schneider was educated at Harvard and undertook his research training at the NIH under Nobel Laureate Marshall Nirenberg. In 1984, he was appointed to the nascent program in cardiac molecular biology at Baylor College of Medicine, ultimately becoming Professor of Medicine, Molecular & Cellular Biology and Molecular Physiology & Biophysics and a Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Development. In 2000, he became the inaugural recipient of the M. D. Anderson Foundation Chair at Baylor. He has authored more than 180 scientific papers, including invited reviews and editorials.
Professor Schneider’s trainees number more than 70, and have been recognised by young investigator competitions worldwide.
Professor Paul Morgan
Llanelli-born Professor Paul Morgan graduated from the Welsh National School of Medicine in 1980. Following his early medical training in Cardiff, he specialised in Clinical Biochemistry obtaining his PhD in 1984.
Following two years in the US developing his research skills, Professor Morgan returned to Cardiff University to take up a lectureship in Clinical Biochemistry. He won the prestigious Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellowship in 1987, and remained a Fellow for 15 years.
In 2001, he was appointed Head of Medical Biochemistry and Immunology in the former University of Wales College of Medicine. Post-merger with Cardiff University, he was appointed Dean of Medical Research in the School of Medicine from 2007, responsible for developing the School’s Medical Research strategy. He became Dean of Medicine and Head of the School of Medicine from April 2009. He is a Member of the College of Physicians, Fellow of the College of Pathologists and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Professor Morgan is a research specialist in Clinical Immunology and has created an internationally respected research group at Cardiff working in Complement Biology. He has published over 300 research papers and reviews and remains research-active, particularly in the role of complement in neurological and degenerative diseases.