The Department of Surgery and Cancer’s annual Athena SWAN Lecture is one of the most important events in Imperial’s gender equality calendar. Each year we invite a distinguished and inspirering female leader to talk about their career, successes and gender equality issues. This event is open to all.

Athena SWAN Lecture – Professor Dame Sally Davies 

Professor Dame Sally Davies DBE FRS FMedSci will be discussing how she set up the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and her desire to push Universities toward gender parity by only giving NIHR funding to those who hold a Silver Athena SWAN Award. She will also be highlighting her biggest wins as Chief Medical Officer, and what she hopes the next holder of the role will tackle.

Background

Professor Dame Sally Davies DBE FRS FMedSci will be stepping down from her current role as Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Advisor to the UK Government at the end of September 2019 and has been appointed by the Queen as Master of Trinity College.

Dame Sally, who created the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), is also the first woman to have been appointed Chief Medical Officer, a post she has held for nine years.

Before joining the Civil Service in 2004, she worked in the NHS as a consultant haematologist for 30 years and was the first UK medical practitioner to specialise in sickle cell disease.

She became Director General of Research and Development for the NHS and later played a central role in the establishment of Genomics England.  A key achievement was establishing and running the NIHR, successfully putting in place programmes to effectively spend over £1 billion annually and restore the UK’s reputation as a world leader in clinical research.

Dame Sally is known for successfully paving the way for international and domestic efforts in the fight against antimicrobial resistance and leading the UK government’s response to health emergencies including Ebola, pandemic flu, and the Novichok attacks.