Published: 13 January 2022
St George’s Medicine alumnus and Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir Patrick Vallance, has been made a knight commander of the Order of the Bath in this year’s New Year Honours for services to Science in Government.
This honour recognises the work of senior military officials and civil servants and comes three years after his Knighthood in 2019 for services to open clinical science.
Time at St George's
Sir Patrick, who graduated from St George’s in 1984, returned to teach at the university from 1986 to 1995, where his research concentrated on vascular biology and endothelial cell physiology.
His last visit to St George’s was in February 2020 to officially open our newest lecture theatre, The Curve (pictured).
Reflecting on his time as a student at St George’s, he shared:
“Lecture theatres were the place I was inspired, where I understood things for the first time, where I was confused, and where I saw demonstrations which brought to life something I was trying to understand.”
Read more about his last visit to St George’s.
Career history
Sir Patrick has over 20 years’ experience of basic and clinical research, working in both academia and industry as a physician, scientist, and clinical pharmacologist. Prior to joining GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2006, his roles included working as a Consultant Physician in the NHS and leading the Division of Medicine at UCL.
Sir Patrick’s career at GSK culminated in the role he held as President of Research and Development (R&D) from 2012 until 2017, a period in which the company had 14 new medicines approved for use worldwide, for diseases ranging from asthma to cancer and HIV. He went on to become Government Chief Scientific Adviser in 2018.
A great achievement
Speaking about how it felt to receive a New Year’s Honour, Sir Patrick said he was:
“really pleased to see so many outstanding scientists and engineers recognised, including those that have been working tirelessly as part of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
He added, "These honours are a great achievement for the scientific community which I hope will inspire the next generation to follow careers in STEM.”