Trust Chair elected to Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship

Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery, OUH Chair

Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust Chair Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery has been elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship.

Sir Jonathan was one of 50 prominent biomedical and health scientists elected to the respected and influential Fellowship. He was named in his capacity as Professor of Health Care Law at University College London.

Sir Jonathan is also Chair of the Health Research Authority (HRA), which protects and promotes the interests of participants, patients and the public in health research.

The new Fellows have been selected for their "exceptional contributions to the advancement of medical science through innovative research discoveries and translating scientific developments into benefits for patients and the wider society", the academy said.

OUH Chief Executive Dr Bruno Holthof said: "On behalf of the Trust, I would like to offer Sir Jonathan our heartfelt congratulations. His election to the academy's Fellowship is well deserved. It is also important that his area of expertise – bioethics and healthcare law – has been recognised in this way."

Among the academics elected were a number of leading Oxford researchers, including those supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, which is hosted by OUH.

The new Fellows include experts who have spearheaded the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as Professor Sarah Gilbert, who led the team developing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and Professors Martin Landray and Peter Horby who have been at the forefront of the search for COVID-19 treatments, as the Chief Investigators of the RECOVERY trial.

Read more about the new AMS Fellows from Oxford.

Professor Dame Anne Johnson, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said: "I am truly delighted to welcome these 50 new Fellows to the Academy's Fellowship, and I offer my congratulations to each of them on their exceptional contribution to biomedical and health science. The knowledge, skill and influence that each brings to the Fellowship is the Academy's most powerful asset.

"The last year has clearly demonstrated the power and prowess of UK biomedical science, and I am proud of how many Fellows, new and old, have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response in the UK and globally.

"Although it is hard to look beyond the pandemic right now, I want to stress how important it is that the Academy Fellowship represents the widest diversity of biomedical and health sciences. The greatest health advances rely on the findings of many types of research, and on multidisciplinary teams and cross-sector and global collaboration."

The new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy on 1 July 2021.