Professor Sir Roy Anderson named next Rector of Imperial College London

Professor Sir Roy Anderson will succeed Sir Richard Sykes to become the 14th Rector of Imperial College London - <em>News Release</em>

For immediate use
21 June 2007

Professor Sir Roy Anderson, a distinguished epidemiologist and currently Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Ministry of Defence, will succeed Sir Richard Sykes to become the 14th Rector of Imperial College London, it is announced today. Sir Roy will take over from Sir Richard in the summer of 2008, when Sir Richard retires after leading Imperial for eight years.

Currently on secondment to the Ministry of Defence, Sir Roy, 60, has held Imperial's Chair in Infectious Disease Epidemiology since 2000. Becoming Rector will crown a 40-year association with the College, which began when he was admitted as a zoology undergraduate in 1965.

The Chairman of Imperial's Council, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, led the international search for its new Rector, carried out by a Search Committee formed in December 2006. The College's Council approved Sir Roy's appointment this week.

Announcing Sir Roy's appointment in a letter to the College community, Lord Kerr said:

"Imperial is a world class research university, and demands a leader with vision, determination and experience, as well as a thorough understanding of the environment in which it operates. Sir Roy more than matches these criteria.

"He is Imperial through and through, and I am delighted that he has agreed to take the top job and will lead Imperial through the first years of its second century.

"Sir Richard Sykes will leave the College in a very strong position, and Sir Roy is an ideal successor, with the talent and enthusiasm necessary to ensure our continued success."

Sir Roy is regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on the epidemiology and control of infectious diseases including the tropical parasitic infections, BSE and vCJD, SARS, AIDS, influenza and foot and mouth. In his career as a scientist he has focused on the use of mathematics, experimental and field observations to predict the way infectious disease outbreaks will spread and how best to control them. He has frequently advised governments and international agencies on public health and biomedical research issues.

As Chief Scientific Adviser to MoD he is in charge of a large research and technology budget, chairs its Investment Approval and Research and Development Boards, is a member of the Defence Management Board and of the Defence Council. His department of Science, Innovation and Technology at the MoD is responsible for 220 civil servants in Whitehall and 3,500 scientists and engineers.

Sir Roy said on his appointment:

"I've always had a very special affinity with Imperial and am very excited about taking on this new and very challenging role. Imperial is a global university, welcoming people from all over the world and all social and cultural backgrounds, and bringing them together in a vibrant and integrated community. Those who come here find a down-to-earth, problem-solving environment that has an extraordinary history of creating opportunity for its talented people. It is a great honour to be asked to lead this very special institution.

"The importance of science, technology and medicine is growing rapidly in an increasingly globalised world. There have been as many scientific advances made in the last five years as there were in the previous 50, and as many in the previous 50 as there were in the 500 before that. Imperial's task is to be at the forefront of this ever accelerating pace of change. I look forward to working with all my outstanding colleagues and our exceptional students so that we make the most of the great opportunities that lie ahead for science, engineering and medicine in the service of society.

"Sir Richard Sykes has done an extraordinary job for Imperial College and the College is fitter than it has ever been. He has put the College firmly on the international map, reminding us always of its founding charter, to apply our endeavours to solving the world's problems. I hope that in my time as Rector I will be able to do as much as Sir Richard to build on all the great achievements of Imperial's first 100 years."

Sir Roy began his academic career as a student at Imperial in the 1960s, receiving a first class Honours degree in zoology in 1968 and his PhD in parasitology in 1971. He has spent much of his career at the College, becoming one of its youngest professors in 1982, at the age of 35.

In 1984 he was made Head of Imperial's Department of Biology, and in 1986 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1993 he moved to the University of Oxford to become Head of the Department of Zoology and Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, before returning to Imperial in 2000 to set up and lead the College's new Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. He was seconded to the Ministry of Defence as its Chief Scientific Adviser in 2004 and was knighted in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours. (See Notes to Eds)

Current Rector Sir Richard Sykes, 64, joined Imperial in 2001 from GlaxoSmithKline, where he was Chairman. His time as Rector has seen Imperial rise to be rated as the ninth best university in the world according to the 2006 Times Higher Education Supplement University Rankings. (See Notes to Eds)

Sir Richard said:

"I warmly welcome Sir Roy back to Imperial and hope he will enjoy his time here as Rector as much as I have. Imperial is a very special institution to so many people and its future leadership is placed in safe hands. Our new Rector-elect already knows it inside out, cares about it deeply, and is well placed to help it build on the success of its first 100 years. Leading such a dynamic place is a hugely exciting challenge and with so many key projects and milestones approaching, I'm sure that my final time here will be as eventful and packed as all the rest and I look forward to working with Sir Roy to ensure a successful transition."

Sir Roy will take up the post of Rector in the summer of 2008, becoming the 14th person to hold the appointment since the first, Henry Bovey, in 1908. A factsheet about Imperial's Rectors is available to download from www.imperial.ac.uk/aboutimperial/rectorelect 

Sir Roy's interests include science and technology policy, public understanding of science, natural history, wildlife photography and hiking. His wife, Dr Claire Baron, is a graduate of the London School of Economics, where she earned her BSc and PhD degrees in sociology.

A high resolution photo of Sir Roy Anderson is available online at www.imperial.ac.uk/aboutimperial/rectorelect 

For further information contact:

Abigail Smith
Imperial College London Press Office
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6701
Mobile: +44 (0)7803 886248
Email: abigail.smith@imperial.ac.uk

Notes to editors

About Professor Sir Roy Anderson FRS, FMedSci

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 Imperi al 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 L ondon to become a lecturer in parasitology in 1973.

He returned to Imperial in 1977 as a lecturer and was made prof essor 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 is currently on 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 serves 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 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.

A curriculum vitae for Sir Roy is available from www.imperial.ac.uk/aboutimperial/rectorelect 

About Sir Richard Sykes DSc, FRS, FMedSci

Sir Richard Sykes became Rector of Imperial College London in January 2001. Before joining Imperial, he had a 30-year career in pharmaceutical research and industry with Glaxo, subsequently Glaxo Wellcome, where he was Chairman and Chief Executive, and then GlaxoSmithKline, which he left as Chairman in 2002. He was awarded a BSc in microbiology from Queen Elizabeth College, University of London, a PhD in microbial biochemistry from Bristol University, and a DSc from the University of London. He received a knighthood in the 1994 New Year's Honours for services to the pharmaceutical industry.

His time as Rector has seen Imperial rise to be rated as the ninth best university in the world according to the 2006 Times Higher Education Supplement University Rankings.

Under his leadership, Imperial has seen major rejuvenation of its campuses, including:

• a high profile new entrance on Exhibition Road
• a home for the Tanaka Business School
• a state-of-the-art sports centre to which students have free access
• £51 million new hall of residence for 400 students in South Kensington.
• an incubator for 15 spin-out companies on its South Kensington Campus
• £60 million Burlington Danes Medical Research Facility in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline and the Medical Research Council

In 2004 Imperial announced that it would provide Study Support Bursaries of up to £4,000 per year for less well off students. The bursaries are at the heart of plans to ensure financial concerns do not deter the best students from applying to study science, technology and medicine.

Sir Richard also implemented a new faculty structure to promote clear lines of responsibility and also facilitate interdisciplinary methods of working. This has resulted in a sharp increase in cross-disciplinary research and the launch of new Institutes including Biomedical Engineering, Mathematical Sciences and Systems Biology.

In addition, he has led a new approach to Imperial's finance that has seen the establishment of the Imperial College Fund to provide unfettered income to be invested in strategic College projects. A major source of the capital for this Fund came from the flotation in 2006 of the technology transfer company Imperial Innovations, previously wholly owned by Imperial. The College remains the majority shareholder in the company, with a retained stake worth in excess of £100 million.

Sir Richard is currently steering the College through its Centenary celebrations and forthcoming independence from the University of London.

Full biography at www.imperial.ac.uk/secretariat/collegeinfo/principalofficers/sirrichardsykes

About the search process

The Search Committee was formed by the College's Council and formally began its work in January 2007, with a call to all members of the College community to canvas their views on a successor to Sir Richard Sykes. The appointment was advertised in January.

The Search Committee looked inside the College and throughout the UK and internationally to identify candidates of international stature, able to command respect at the highest international levels of science, engineering or medicine, and with successful experience of leading large and complex organisations and of interacting with and influencing government, industry and commerce at the most senior levels.

The membership of the Committee was:

Chairman

Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, Chairman of the Court and Council, former Ambassador to the EU and the US, and now Deputy Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell plc

Members

Lord Rees of Ludlow, President of the Royal Society
Dr George Gray, Governor and Deputy Chairman, former Chairman of National Physical Laboratory and Serco plc
Sir Peter Gershon, Governor, formerly Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce and currently non-executive director of HM Treasury
Baroness Wilcox, Governor, Conservative Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry
Professor Richard Kitney, Staff Governor, Senior Dean and Director of the Graduate School of Engineering and Physical Sciences
Professor Sir Ara Darzi, Head of the Division of Surgery, Oncology, Reproductive Biology and Anaesthetics

Secretary

Mr K.A. Mitcheson, Clerk to the Court and the Council

About Imperial College London

Rated as the world's ninth best university in the 2006 Times Higher Education Supplement University Rankings, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 11,500 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality.

Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

With 65 Fellows of the Royal Society among our current academic staff and distinguished past members of the College including 14 Nobel Laureates and two Fields Medallists, Imperial's contribution to society has been immense. Inventions and innovations include the discovery of penicillin, the development of hol ogr aphy and the foundations of fibre optics . This commitment to the application of our research for the benefit of all continues today with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to tack le climate change and mathem atical modelling to predict and control the spread of infectious diseases.

The College's 100 years of living science will be celebrated throughout 2007 with a range of events to mark the Centenary of the s i gning of Imperial's founding charter on 8 July 1907. Her Majesty the Queen will award the Colleg e its new Royal Charter as an independent university on 9 July 2007.

Website: www.imperial.ac.uk