Andrew Pollard (immunologist)

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Sir
Andrew Pollard
FHEA FMedSci FRS
Born (1965-08-29) 29 August 1965 (age 59)
Tunbridge Wells, England, UK
NationalityBritish
Alma mater Guy's Hospital Medical School
St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School
Imperial College London
Occupation(s)Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity
Known forChief Investigator on the University of Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine (ChAdOx-1 n-CoV-19), Director of Oxford Vaccine Group, Chair of JCVI
Scientific career
Institutions University of Oxford
Thesis Age-related changes in immunity to Neisseria meningitidis  (1999)
Website www.ovg.ox.ac.uk/team/andrew-pollard

Sir Andrew John Pollard FHEA FMedSci FRS (born 29 August 1965) is the Ashall Professor of Infection & Immunity at the University of Oxford [1] and a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. [2] He is an Honorary Consultant Paediatrician at John Radcliffe Hospital and the Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group. [3] He is the Chief Investigator on the University of Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine (ChAdOx-1 n-CoV-19) trials and has led research on vaccines for many life-threatening infectious diseases including typhoid fever, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, streptococcus pneumoniae, pertussis, influenza, rabies, and Ebola. [4]

Contents

Because "In order to prevent any perceived conflict of interest it was agreed that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) Chair (Professor Andrew Pollard), who is involved in the development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine at Oxford, would recuse himself from all JCVI COVID-19 meetings", [5] JCVI Deputy Chair Professor Anthony Harnden acts in his stead on these matters.

Pollard was awarded the coveted James Spence Medal [6] by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) in 2022. [7]

Education

Pollard attended St Peter's Catholic School, Bournemouth, where he was head boy. He attended Guy's Hospital Medical School graduating with a BSc in 1986, [8] and subsequently obtained an MBBS from the University of London (1989) at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, where he was awarded the Wheelwright's Prize in Paediatrics (1988) and Honours Colours. [9] After house jobs at Barts and Whipps Cross Hospital and working as an A&E senior house officer at the Whittington Hospital, London, he trained in Paediatrics at Birmingham Children's Hospital, UK, specialising in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at St Mary's Hospital, London, and at British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver. He obtained his PhD at St Mary's Hospital, from the University of London in 1999. [10]

Career

He chaired the scientific panel of the Spencer Dayman Meningitis Laboratories Charitable Trust (2002–2006) [11] and was a member of the scientific committee of the Meningitis Research Foundation (2009–2014). [12] He is currently chair of trustees of the Knoop Trust [13] and a trustee of the Jenner Vaccine Foundation. Pollard has been the Chair of the UK's JCVI since 2013, but does not participate in the COVID-19 vaccine Committee. [5] Pollard has been a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization since 2016. [14] He was Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford 2012-2020 [15] and was Vice-Master of the University of Oxford's St Cross College, Oxford 2017–2021 and remains a Fellow of the college. [16] He has been a member of the British Commission on Human Medicines' Clinical Trials, Biologicals and Vaccines expert advisory group since 2013, [17] and chaired the European Medicines Agency Scientific Advisory Group on Vaccines over the years between 2012 and 2020. [18]

Honours and awards

Pollard has received multiple awards throughout his career. For example, he received the “Science Honor and Truth Award” of the Instituto de Patologia en la Altura in La Paz, Bolivia in 2002. [9] In 2020, Pollard received the Oxford University Vice Chancellor's Innovation Award [9] [19] for his work on typhoid vaccines. In 2021, Pollard was knighted in the Birthday Honours for services to public health, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. [20] In 2022, Brazil awarded him the Order of Medical Merit. [1] He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2024. [21]

Publications

As of April 2021, Pollard has published five books (including one on mountaineering), six book chapters, 12 conference papers, and 647 journal articles. His most cited works are:

Personal life

Pollard is an avid runner, cyclist, and mountaineer. [22] [23]

Related Research Articles

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, often referred to as the RCPCH, is the professional body for paediatricians in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the postgraduate training of paediatricians and conducts the Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (MRCPCH) exams. It also awards the Diploma in Child Health (DCH), which is taken by many doctors who plan a career in general practice. Members of the college use the postnominal initials 'MRCPCH' while Fellows use 'FRCPCH'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meningococcal disease</span> Often life-threatening bacterial infection

Meningococcal disease describes infections caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis. It has a high mortality rate if untreated but is vaccine-preventable. While best known as a cause of meningitis, it can also result in sepsis, which is an even more damaging and dangerous condition. Meningitis and meningococcemia are major causes of illness, death, and disability in both developed and under-developed countries.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an independent expert advisory committee that advises United Kingdom health departments on immunisation, making recommendations concerning vaccination schedules and vaccine safety. It has a statutory role in England and Wales, and health departments in Scotland and Northern Ireland may choose to accept its advice.

NmVac4-A/C/Y/W-135 is the commercial name for a polysaccharide vaccine that protects against meningococcal meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis, specifically the serotypes A, C, Y, and W-135. This vaccine is part of a broader group of meningococcal vaccines. It is especially formulated for use in developing countries, aimed at protecting populations during meningitis outbreaks, particularly in high-risk regions like the African meningitis belt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeeri R. Reddy</span>

Jeeri Reddy an American biologist who became an entrepreneur, developing new generation preventive and therapeutic vaccines. He has been an active leader in the field of the biopharmaceutical industry, commercializing diagnostics and vaccines through JN-International Medical Corporation. He is the scientific director and president of the corporation that created the world's first serological rapid tests for Tuberculosis to facilitate acid-fast bacilli microscopy for the identification of smear-positive and negative cases. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV was achieved in South East Asia by the use of rapid tests developed by Reddy in 1999. Reddy through his Corporation donated $173,050 worth of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) for malaria in Zambia and actively participated in the prevention of child deaths due to Malaria infections. Reddy was personally invited by the president, George W. Bush, and First Lady Laura Bush to the White House for Malaria Awareness Day sponsored by US President Malaria Initiative (PMI) on Wednesday, April 25, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meningitis</span> Inflammation of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord

Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasionally photophobia. Other symptoms include confusion or altered consciousness, nausea, and an inability to tolerate light or loud noises. Young children often exhibit only nonspecific symptoms, such as irritability, drowsiness, or poor feeding. A non-blanching rash may also be present.

Meningococcal vaccine refers to any vaccine used to prevent infection by Neisseria meningitidis. Different versions are effective against some or all of the following types of meningococcus: A, B, C, W-135, and Y. The vaccines are between 85 and 100% effective for at least two years. They result in a decrease in meningitis and sepsis among populations where they are widely used. They are given either by injection into a muscle or just under the skin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford Vaccine Group</span> Research group of the University of Oxford

The Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) is a vaccine research group within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1994 by Professor E. Richard Moxon, was initially based at the John Radcliffe Hospital, and moved in 2003 to its current location in the Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine (CCVTM) at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England. The group, led by Professor Andrew Pollard since 2001, comprises around 75 members across a number of disciplines, including consultants in paediatrics and vaccinology, clinical research fellows, research nurses, statisticians, post-doctoral laboratory scientists, research assistants and DPhil students.

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Sir Adrian Vivian Sinton Hill, is a British-Irish vaccinologist who is Director of the Jenner Institute and Lakshmi Mittal and Family Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, an honorary Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases, and Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Hill is a leader in the field of malaria vaccine development and was a co-leader of the research team which produced the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, along with Professor Sarah Gilbert of the Jenner Institute and Professor Andrew Pollard of the Oxford Vaccine Group.

Leonard Birnie Strang FRCP was a Scottish born, British professor of Paediatric sciences and was a Secretary of the Paediatric Committee of the Royal College of Physicians. He was considered an outstanding clinical observer, contributing to the first accounts of harlequinism and of catecholamine secretion in neuroblastoma. However it was his later work that Leonard Strang became famous, leading a team over two decades studying pulmonary vasculature in the perinatal period and even more the central role that secretion of lungs containing fluid plays in lung formation and preparation for birth.

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Sir Andrew James McMichael, is an immunologist, Professor of Molecular Medicine, and previously Director of the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford. He is particularly known for his work on T cell responses to viral infections such as influenza and HIV.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine</span> British medical research institute

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References

  1. 1 2 "Professor Sir Andrew Pollard FMedSci". www.ovg.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  2. ↑ "Professor Andrew Pollard". www.stx.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  3. ↑ Lakshman, Narayan (24 July 2020). "Director of the Oxford vaccine group on coronavirus endgame scenarios : In Focus podcast". The Hindu . THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD.
  4. ↑ "What are Meningitis & Septicaemia? | Meningitis Research Foundation". www.meningitis.org. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  6. ↑ "James Spence Medal 2023". RCPCH. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  7. ↑ "Professor Sir Andrew Pollard". RCPCH. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  8. ↑ "Pollard, Prof. Andrew John, (born 29 Aug. 1965), Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity, University of Oxford, since 2008; Fellow, since 2006, and Vice Master, since 2017, St Cross College, Oxford; Senior Investigator, National Institute for Health Research, since 2018." WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 1 Dec. 2017
  9. 1 2 3 "Andrew Pollard". www.ovg.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  10. ↑ Pollard, Andrew J.; Bijker, Else M. (5 January 2021). "A guide to vaccinology: from basic principles to new developments". Nature Reviews Immunology. 21 (2): 83–100. doi:10.1038/s41577-020-00479-7. ISSN   1474-1741. PMC   7754704 . PMID   33353987.
  11. ↑ "Spencer Dayman meningitis Research Fund | Meningitis Now". www.meningitisnow.org. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  12. ↑ "Meningitis and septicaemia | Meningitis Research Foundation". www.meningitis.org. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  13. ↑ "THE HUNG CHENG AND BARONESS OLGA KNOOP TRUST FOR OPHTHALMIC RESEARCH – Charity 1014695". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  14. ↑ "WHO | Professor Andrew J Pollard". WHO. Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  15. ↑ "Andrew Pollard". www.paediatrics.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  16. ↑ "Professor Andrew Pollard". www.stx.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  17. ↑ "Membership". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  18. ↑ "European Medicines Agency launches safety review of HPV vaccines". The Pharmaceutical Journal. 2015. doi:10.1211/pj.2015.20068967. ISSN   2053-6186.
  19. ↑ "BRC researchers' work recognised with Vice-Chancellor's Awards". NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  20. ↑ "No. 63377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2021. p. B2.
  21. ↑ "Outstanding scientists elected as Fellows of the Royal Society". Royal Society . Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  22. ↑ "OX5 Run is back to raise funds for hospital charity!". Oxford Mail. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  23. ↑ "Cycling Time Trials: Profile". www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
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