First day for Sir John Savill as chief executive
1 October 2010
Professor Sir John Savill BA, MBChB, PhD, FRCP, FRCPE, FASN, FMedSci, FRSE begins his term as chief executive and deputy chair of the Medical Research Council (MRC), today, Friday 1 October 2010.
Prior to 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 will retain an ongoing, research-active involvement with the University of Edinburgh part-time throughout his appointment as 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 has had a long association with the MRC. Early in his career he completed an MRC Clinical Training Fellowship, he has chaired two research boards as well as serving on the MRC Council between 2002 and 2008.
Sir John is thrilled to be taking the helm:
“I start my new role as Chief Executive today, some 25 years after I first visited to deliver my application for an MRC Clinical Training Fellowship. The Medical Research Council deservedly enjoys an outstanding international reputation, so it is a signal honour to rejoin the MRC family. It is great to be back!
“I am absolutely committed to helping drive the MRC forward through tough times, but we must never lose sight of the excellence of the work done by the MRC and of the colleagues who deliver our mission. I am grateful to Sir Leszek for his encouragement and advice as I prepared for this new role and I wish him well on his return to Cambridge. I look forward to working together with colleagues and partners to take the MRC into its second century of world-leading scientific discovery.”
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 and 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 the 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.
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Notes to editors
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2. For almost 100 years the Medical Research Council has improved the health of people in the UK and around the world by supporting the highest quality science. The MRC invests in world-class scientists. It has produced 29 Nobel Prize winners and sustains a flourishing environment for internationally recognised research. The MRC focuses on making an impact and provides the financial muscle and scientific expertise behind medical breakthroughs, including the first antibiotic penicillin, the structure of DNA and the lethal link between smoking and cancer. Today MRC funded scientists tackle research into the major health challenges of the 21st century. www.mrc.ac.uk
