The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Professors made OBEs for role in Covid fight
One of the Scottish Government’s key advisers on coronavirus is among a host of people recognised for their efforts in battling the pandemic in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Professor Linda Bauld has said she is “delighted” to have been made an OBE after putting in “many, many hours” with public health colleagues during the coronavirus pandemic.
Another Scots-based recipient is Prof Massimo Palmarini, director of a leading virus research centre who was made an honorary OBE.
The life-saving work of Covid-19 vaccine design and delivery is celebrated, with a host of awards going to the experts who transformed the UK’s pandemic response.
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine mastermind Prof Sarah Gilbert and the exchairwoman of the UK vaccine taskforce Kate Bingham are both recognised with damehoods.
The list recognises a multitude of specialists from across the scientific community for their pioneering efforts to develop vaccines, run clinical trials, deliver testing and track Covid cases.
Prof Bauld has been a regular on TV and radio in the past 15 months, explaining the course of the pandemic and commenting on the various restrictions put in place.
She has also been an adviser to the Scottish Parliament’s Covid-19 committee, all while continuing her role in the chair of public health at Edinburgh University.
She said: “I just got a letter from the office that manages the Honours system. I had no idea and I was delighted.
“I think everybody working in public health has had to step up during the pandemic and try to figure out how they were going to contribute, what their skills were.
“I have, for quite some time, engaged with the media and done a lot of science communication – trying to interpret data and communicate it to the public and decision makers.
“I think the OBE is for two things, it’s for contributing to the response to address the pandemic, and public understanding.”
Most Scots will recognise Prof Bauld from media appearances since the onset of the pandemic, which she hopes has highlighted the need for effective scientific communication.
Prof Bauld said she hopes the pandemic will show universities and other research bodies the value of scientific communication, while also helping to improve scientific literacy.
Interest in the public health field, she said, has also increased in the last year.
“There’s absolutely no doubt to me that epidemiology, public health, virology, all the disciplines associated with trying to find solutions to a crisis on the science side are more accessible to pupils now,” she said.
“I just hope there’s more interest in science. In medicine, in public health and also in population health.
“Let’s try and find good things to take from this.”
Prof Palmarini leads the Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), based in the Sir Michael Stoker Building at the Garscube campus.
He has been awarded an honorary OBE – because he is not a British citizen – for services to public health, working on coronavirus variants.
Prof Palmarini was quick to highlight he is just “representing” the centre, saying: “It’s not about me... it’s really a reflection of the work of the centre.”
A key role in creating the Oxford University/ AstraZeneca jab, which has gone into the arms of tens of millions of people around the world, earns Prof Gilbert the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
She said: “It’s really great to have the recognition on behalf of the whole team and it is so important to recognise the large number of people who worked very hard to get this vaccine developed, manufactured, tested in trials – all of the clinical trial volunteers without whom we couldn’t have tested the vaccine, and now the people working on the vaccine rollout.”
Venture capitalist Kate Bingham is similarly honoured after overseeing the procurement of the millions of vaccine doses now giving hope to the nation that the fight against the virus is being won.
She hailed the efforts to develop jabs as “a triumph of scientific and industrial collaboration”.
Prof Gilbert’s colleagues, Prof Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, and Prof Peter Horby, joint chief investigator for the Recovery trial searching for coronavirus treatments, are both knighted for their services to public health and medical research respectively.
England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty, among the leading experts to become household names during the pandemic, does not feature on the latest Honours list, as it is thought to be too early for some figures still at the forefront of the pandemic response to be considered.
Ms Bingham’s colleague Divya Chadha Manek, seconded from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to be clinical trials workstream lead on the taskforce, is made an OBE after playing an instrumental role in convincing manufacturers to base their trials in the UK.
Originally from India, Ms Manek, 35, recalled the inspiring words passed on by her father, who died in
“Everybody working in public health has had to step up and figure out how they could contribute
December, as she headed to the UK on a scholarship aged 18.
Handing her £500, he said: “No matter where you go, make sure you always be good.”
Prof Paul Elliott, chair of epidemiology and public health medicine at Imperial College London and director of the giant React programme that has tracked Covid-19 case numbers throughout the pandemic, is made a CBE for services to scientific research in public health.
Other experts being honoured in the list are Prof Keith Willett, NHS England’s national director of emergency planning and incident response, who is knighted, and Nick Elliott, former director general of the vaccine taskforce, who is made a companion of the Order of the Bath.
David Hunt, head of vaccine operations at AstraZeneca is made a CBE – one of eight employees from the pharmaceutical giant being honoured.
Elsewhere, Dr Ellen Brooks Pollock, senior lecturer at Bristol University, was made an OBE for using her usual work in veterinary public health to provide expert disease modelling advice during the pandemic.
Prof William Hope, director of the Centre of Excellence in Infectious Diseases Research in Liverpool, was also honoured with an OBE after leading research and supporting the city’s public health response to Covid-19.
A wealth of honours also go to acknowledging the people who found ways to make a difference throughout the pandemic – from running free taxis for key workers to making bottles of hand sanitiser.
For example, a British Empire Medal (BEM) goes to the brother and sister team of John Brownhill and Amanda Guest, who were moved by the viral video of distressed nurse Dawn Bilbrough to set up Food4Heroes which delivered more than 200,000 meals to the NHS.
“You see in a time of crisis the strengths of humanity I think,” Mr Brownhill said.
Rhys Mallows, 25, is also honoured with a BEM after he helped repurpose a Welsh distillery firm to produce more than one million bottles of hand sanitiser amid high demand.