Distinguished infectious disease epidemiologist takes up office as new Rector - <em>News Release</em>
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Tuesday 1 July 2008
Sir Roy Anderson FRS FMedSci takes up office today as the fourteenth Rector of Imperial College London, succeeding Sir Richard Sykes who held the post for almost eight years.
A distinguished infectious disease epidemiologist, Sir Roy has been associated with the College for more than forty years, first arriving as a zoology undergraduate in 1965. He completed his PhD in parasitology in 1971 and has spent much of his career at Imperial, becoming one of its youngest professors in 1982 at the age of 35, and subsequently head of department at 37.
He takes up his new role following four years on secondment to the UK Ministry of Defence, where he was Chief Scientific Advisor.
Sir Roy Anderson takes up office today
In a message to staff and students today, Sir Roy said:
"Imperial is a very special place. On behalf of the College community, I would like to thank my predecessor Sir Richard Sykes for the outstanding job he has done to further Imperial's reputation as a world-leading centre for learning, discovery and innovation in the sciences, engineering, medicine and management.
"I am very aware that Imperial's reputation and strengths rest with its staff and students. I look forward, therefore, with enormous optimism to the opportunities and challenges ahead. This is a community packed with talented and dedicated individuals who are proud to work for Imperial College."
Sir Roy's appointment was announced in June 2007 by Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, Chairman of Imperial's Court and Council, who led the Search Committee.
More information on Sir Roy and high resolution photos are available at: www.imperial.ac.uk/rector
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For further information contact:
Naomi Weston
Imperial College London Press Office
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6704
Mobile: +44 (0)7803 886248
Email: n.weston@imperial.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About Sir Roy Anderson
Professor Sir Roy Anderson attended Duncombe School and Hertford Grammar School in Hertfordshire. He gained a first in zoology in 1968 and a PhD in parasitology, both at Imperial College London. After completing his PhD in 1971 he became an IBM biomathematics research fellow at the University of Oxford, before moving to King's College London to become a lecturer in parasitology in 1973.
He returned to Imperial in 1977 as a lecturer and was made professor in 1982 and Head of the Department of Biology in 1984, a position he held until 1993 when he became Head of the Department of Zoology and Linacre Chair of Zoology at the University of Oxford.
In 2000 he returned to Imperial, bringing with him a research team of around 40 people, to set up and lead the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, focused on the epidemiology, population biology, evolution and control of infectious diseases such as AIDS and HIV, SARS, bird flu and pandemic influenza, BSE and vCJD and the epidemic viral infections of livestock including foot and mouth. He has just completed a secondment from Imperial College to act as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence.
Sir Roy has also served as Director of the Wellcome Centre for Parasite Infections from 1989 to 1993 (at Imperial) and as Director of the Wellcome Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease from 1993 to 2000 (at Oxford). He is the author of over 450 scientific articles and has sat on numerous government and international agency committees advising on public health and disease control including the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS. From 1991-2000 he was a Governor of the Wellcome Trust.
He is currently Chairman of the Gates Schistosomiasis Control Initiative based at Imperial College, and he has recently served as a council member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and on the scientific advisory boards of the Earth Institute at the University of Columbia, New York, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative. He is a non-exectutive director of GlaxoSmithKline.
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1986, a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998, a Foreign Associate Member of the Institute of Medicine at the US National Academy of Sciences in 1999 and he was knighted in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours.
About Imperial College London
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