College Tutor and medical researcher receive gongs for exceptional service - <em>News</em>
Thursday 3 January 2008
By Abigail Smith
Two members of staff at Imperial have been recognised for their dedication to science and the community in the 2008 New Year Honours, announced this week.
Professor Brian Spratt of the Division of Epidemiology, Public Health and Primary Care and Dr Anna Thomas-Betts of the Educational Quality Office receive awards from The Queen for their exceptional achievements and service.
Professor Spratt, who last year led an official investigation into the foot and mouth disease outbreak from the Pirbright laboratory site in Surrey, is awarded a CBE for his services to science.
He has played a major role in scientific research and policy development, focusing particularly on the area of population and evolutionary biology of bacterial pathogens and molecular epidemiology. He is a member of the Ministry of Defence's Scientific Advisory Council, and in 2000 chaired the Royal Society's independent study into the health effects of depleted uranium on soldiers involved in the Gulf and Balkan conflicts.
He is now Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Imperial College, a position he has held since 2001, and became Head of the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in 2004.
Expressing delight at receiving a CBE, Professor Spratt said: "I suppose it is for the basic scientific contributions from my lab over the last 35 years, and for the work I've done to provide a balanced independent scientific view for government on a number of controversial issues, such as the health hazards of depleted uranium munitions.
"As with most awards, it couldn't have happened without the help of many people, particularly those who have worked in my lab over the years, and the members of independent scientific advisory groups I have chaired."
Imperial is also represented in the honours list by Dr Thomas-Betts, who receives an MBE for services to education and the community. With a background in earth sciences, she first came to Imperial as a lecturer in geophysics, but became increasingly focused on student pastoral care after being appointed a College Tutor in 1998. She now works in the College's Educational Quality Office.
Congratulating her, Professor Julia Buckingham, Pro Rector, Education, said: "Anna's contributions to the education and welfare of our students have been legendary, and I am absolutely delighted that they have been recognised in this way."
Dr Thomas-Betts' role as College Tutor means that she supports both undergraduate and postgraduate students, offering help and advice in addition to that provided by departmental tutors. She said:
"This came as a complete surprise and I and my friends, family and colleagues are delighted. It's a great privilege to be nominated by the College for an honour of this kind and I accept it as a token of acknowledgement and appreciation of the work of everyone at the College who is directly involved in the support of students at many levels."
Dr Thomas-Betts, who joined Imperial in 1966, added that she hoped her honour would inspire women and minority ethnic staff at the College.
"It's a tribute to the very small number of women academics who were around in the 70s and 80s who showed great staying power, and I feel sure that many minority ethnic staff will take encouragement from it as well," she said.
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