‘Magnificent seven’ staff recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours List

College celebrates two new knights, two CBEs, two OBEs and an MBE - <em>News</em>

Monday 14 June 2010
By Abigail Smith

Seven members of staff, including three from Imperial’s Business School, are recognised in this weekend’s Birthday Honours List.

Knighthoods go to Professor Marc Feldmann of the College’s Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, an expert on autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and Professor John Beddington of the Department of Biology, currently chief scientific advisor to the government.

In the Business School, Professor David Gann, head of innovation and entrepreneurship, and Professor Carol Propper, head of healthcare management, are appointed CBE, while Professor Dot Griffiths, Deputy Principal of the School, is appointed OBE.

Elsewhere in the College, Dr Maha Barakat, co-founder of the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi is appointed OBE, while Arthur Spirling, Director of ICT, is appointed MBE. Congratulating all those recognised, Rector Sir Keith O’Nions said:

“Such honours are a mark of distinction and a sign of the high esteem in which these seven people are held, both by their colleagues here at Imperial and by the wider world. For one institution to have so many members of staff recognised is a great achievement and my congratulations go to them all.”

Newly knighted Professor Sir Marc Feldmann, working with his colleague Professor Sir Ravinder Maini, discovered that a single protein mediator, termed TNFα, was instrumental in driving the disease process behind rheumatoid arthritis.

His work - from laboratory investigations to clinical trials - has led to major improvements in the treatment not only of rheumatoid arthritis, but also of other chronic debilitating diseases such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and ankylosing spondylitis. The anti TNF therapy that he developed with Sir Ravinder has been effectively used in millions of patients and has not only improved symptoms and signs but also dramatically reduced joint damage. Responding to this honour, he said:

“It is recognition by the wider community of the value of one's work, and in this time of economic stress and budget cuts it is important that the community recognises the contribution of the research intensive universities like Imperial to the UK's health and welfare. Research success which impacts on people takes a long time to achieve - 25 years in my case - and so long-term funding of research is critical.

“I and the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology have been the fortunate recipients of major and generous long-term funding from Arthritis Research UK, which recognised this need early.

“Like many awards, one person in the team is honoured, but the reality is that success would not have been possible without the skilled and dedicated work of many others. I have been privileged to work with many talented colleagues over the years, and want to acknowledge and thank them for their assistance.”

Imperial’s second new knight, Professor Sir John Beddington, is an expert in the applications of economics and biology to the sustainable management of fisheries. Sir John became chief scientific advisor to the government in January 2008.

Professor Carol Propper CBE joined Imperial College Business School in October 2007 as Professor of Economics and head of the new healthcare management group. Her research focuses on the impact of incentives on quality of healthcare delivery and on the wider consequences of incentives within the public sector.

The second new CBE is Professor David Gann, head of innovation and entrepreneurship who holds the Chair in Technology and Innovation Management, a joint appointment between the Business School and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. This post enables new research and teaching opportunities to be developed and exploited, linking issues in social sciences and business management with those in engineering, science, technology and medicine.

Also in the Business School is newly-appointed OBE Professor Dot Griffiths, Deputy Principal, Professor of Human Resource Management and Head of Programmes. In addition to her work at the School, Professor Griffiths takes a College-wide role as Chair of the Academic Opportunities Committee. Under her guidance, the College’s work to recruit, retain and advance academic women has been recognised with four departmental Scientific Women’s Academic Network silver awards and a bronze award overall. Of being appointed CBE, she said:

“I was very surprised but very delighted. It’s great to be recognised by one’s colleagues and everyone has been wonderful about it. For the Business School to have three senior academics honoured at the same time is, in the vernacular, awesome and I am proud to be part of our trio.”

Business School Principal Prof David Begg added: “For the School to have three colleagues heading to Buckingham Place is a truly astonishing achievement and testament to our world-class standing and the breadth and depth of our talent pool. It is especially pleasing that our two most senior female academics have been honoured, and wonderful that David Gann's leadership in innovation has been recognised.”

In the Faculty of Medicine, Dr Maha Barakat is also recognised with an OBE for her services to medical research, training and public health in the United Arab Emirates. Dr Barakat is the co- founder and research and medical director of the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ largest multidisciplinary diabetes facility.

The non-academic side of Imperial is represented in the Honours List by Arthur Spirling, Director of ICT, who is appointed MBE. Responsible for vital IT services and infrastructure across the College's eight campuses, Mr Spirling leads a team of around 220 people providing 24/7 IT support for students and staff.