Moira Katherine Brigid Whyte FERS (born 25 September 1959) is a Scottish

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and medical researcher who is the Sir John Crofton Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

. She is the Director the Medical Research Council Centre for Inflammation Research and is Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the

Early life and education

Moira Katherine Brigid Whyte was born on 25 September 1959. Her parents are Maurice and Anne Whyte. She was educated at the Convent of Notre Dame,

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

and

Plymouth College Plymouth College is a co-educational independent school in Plymouth, Devon. History The school was established in 1877. In 1896 Plymouth College bought Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead Co ...

before going on to study medicine at

St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College , mottoeng = Temper the bitter things in life with a smile , parent = Queen Mary University of London , president = Lord Mayor of London , head_label = Warden , head = Mark Caulfield , students = 3,410 , undergrad = 2,235 ...

. She worked and studied at

Hammersmith Hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the London Borough ...

Royal Postgraduate Medical School The Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS) was an independent medical school, based primarily at Hammersmith Hospital in west London. In 1988, the school merged with the Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and in 1997 became part of Imperial ...

and

Imperial Cancer Research Fund Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organization. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

. Whyte completed clinical fellowships funded by the Medical Research Council and

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

Career and research

Whyte became Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

in 1996, subsequently becoming Head of the Department of Infection and Immunity. In 2014 Whyte moved to become the Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and in 2016, Whyte became Head of the

University of Edinburgh Medical School The University of Edinburgh Medical School (also known as Edinburgh Medical School) is the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the United Kingdom and part of the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinar ...

succeeding John Iredale, having become Director of the MRC University of Edinburgh Centre for Inflammation Research in 2015. Whyte was previously an honorary officer and Registrar of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

from 2012 to 2016. Whyte is active in the Medical Research Council as the Chair of their Clinical Training and Careers Panel and was formerly a Member of the Medical Research Council Population and Systems Medicine Board and was also Deputy Chair of the Medical Research Council/

National Institute for Health Research The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "impr ...

Efficacy and Mechanisms Evaluation Board. In April 2018, Whyte took up the position of Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. She succeeded Professor Sir

John Savill Sir John Stewart Savill, FRS, FMedSci (born 25 April 1957) is the Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council (MRC) in the UK and the Head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine and a Vice Principal of the University of Edin ...

and Professor David Argyle in this role. The University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine is one of three colleges at the University of Edinburgh and has over 3000 students and 2000 members of staff. The College includes the

Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, commonly referred to as the Dick Vet, is the veterinary school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine the head of which is Moira Why ...

and the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Whyte is also an Honorary Consultant Physician and member of the NHS Lothian Health Board. Whyte's research is described by the University of Edinburgh as "focused on chronic inflammatory lung diseases and understanding of host defences against bacterial infection in the lung" and Whyte was one of the European Respiratory Society 100 Foundation Fellows in 2014. Whyte also has her role as Director of the MRC University of Edinburgh Centre for Inflammation Research.

Awards and honours

Whyte was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

for services to respiratory medicine in the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

and is also a

Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) is an award for medical scientists who are judged by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences for the "excellence of their science, their contribution to medicine and society and the range of th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whyte, Moira Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Sheffield Officers of the Order of the British Empire Living people 20th-century British medical doctors 21st-century British medical doctors 1959 births Scottish women medical doctors Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) 20th-century women physicians 21st-century women physicians British immunologists