Two iii academics recognised in Queen's Birthday Honours
Published: 12 October 2020
Centre for Virus Research pair Professor Emma Thomson and Dr Sarah McDonald have both been awarded an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of their services to the NHS during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Two leading Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation academics have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Centre for Virus Research pair Dr Sarah McDonald and Professor Emma Thomson have both been awarded an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of their services to the NHS during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
CVR biobank manager Dr McDonald is currently working on the Scottish biorepository for the ISARIC Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium, a UK-wide collaboration responding to COVID-19.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, she established and managed the HCV Research UK biobank at the CVR.
Her role is to coordinate the collection and distribution of clinical samples to a variety of researchers as well as acting as the link between clinical and academic colleagues.
Dr McDonald said: “I’m honoured and a little overwhelmed to receive this award, particularly as someone who has moved away from the traditional academic career pathway.
"The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a huge team effort, working closely with colleagues from the CVR, ISARIC 4C consortium and wider research community.
"I’m incredibly grateful to the many people who have helped us to establish the biorepository in such a short period of time.”
Professor Thomson is Professor in Infectious Diseases at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, and also works part-time at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
She trained in medicine and parasitology at the University of Glasgow, then specialised in infectious diseases in London.
Her PhD was carried out between Imperial College London and Oxford as a Wellcome fellow before setting up her research lab at the CVR in Glasgow.
Her research programme focuses on emerging infections in Uganda, working closely with the Uganda Virus Research Institute and in the UK.
She has looked after patients with various serious viral infections including HIV, HCV, SARS-CoV-2 and Ebola, and, alongside colleagues, described the first case of Ebola disease relapse in the Lancet in 2016 in the nurse who returned from Sierra Leone.
Currently heavily involved in sequencing SARS-CoV-2 as it circulates in the UK as part of the COG-UK consortium, Prof Thomson is the local principal investigator for two vaccine trials running within Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Professor Thomson said: “I’m very lucky to work with many people both more and less experienced than me who I admire greatly and who make coming to work rewarding, varied and often very exciting.
"Everything that we do is done as a team that is a sum of very diverse but equally important parts and I learn something from them every day.
"This extends from those in my own research laboratory and department as a whole at the CVR to the outstanding team at the NHS Clinical Research Facility and the Department of Infectious Diseases at the QEUH. I hope that they will consider this award a reflection of their own achievements.
“Despite our efforts, we have not yet done enough to prevent the next virus emergence – we need to think very carefully about what we are doing as a species to prevent such events.
"It will only be by reducing air travel, global warming, reversing deforestation and preserving other species on the planet that we will provide security for the next generation.
"These are urgent issues, and I hope that some of our new students will choose careers that will help to address these challenges.”
The full list of University of Glasgow staff receiving honours is as follows:
- Professor Muffy Calder, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Science and Engineering: (DBE)
- Professor Christian Delles of the Institiute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences (MBE)
- Dr Sarah McDonald, Biobank Manager at the Centre for Virus Research (OBE)
- Professor Miles Padgett, Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy in the School of Physics and Astronomy (OBE)
- Professor Emma Thomson, Professor in Infectious Diseases at the Centre for Virus Research (OBE)
- Professor Matthew Walters, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Head of the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing (MBE)
Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University, said: “On behalf of the entire University, I offer my warmest congratulations to each of the colleagues recognised.
“They each bring unique expertise to the University from across the fields of computing science, physics, medicine and virology, and their honours are richly deserved.”
First published: 12 October 2020