Keith Peters (physician)
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Sir David Keith Peters (born 26 July 1938) is a retired Welsh physician and academic. He was Regius Professor of Physic at the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
from 1987 to 2005, where he was also head of the School of Clinical Medicine.


Education

Educated at
Glan Afan Grammar School The word Glan meaning derives from Celtic (Noric) glanos meaning "bright, clear", cf. Glanis, Glanum, Glen and English "clean". Glan (Nahe) * Glan, Sarangani, a municipality in Sarangani, Philippines * Glan (Gurk), a river in Carinthia, Austria, tri ...
Port Talbot, Peters graduated in Medicine from the Welsh National School of Medicine in 1961.


Career and research

Peters' research interests focused on the role of the immune system in kidney and vascular diseases. His key achievements included increasing understanding of how a kidney disease called glomerulonephritis develops. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: After posts at the
University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...
, the
National Institute for Medical Research The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC); In 2016, the NIMR became part of the new F ...
at
Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross, close to the Hertfordshire border. It was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it b ...
and the Welsh National School of Medicine, he was appointed Lecturer in Medicine and Consultant Physician at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS),
Hammersmith Hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, London, White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the ...
in 1969. Between 1969 and 1975 Peters was successively Lecturer in Medicine, Lecturer in Medicine and Immunology, and Reader in Medicine, before being appointed Professor of Medicine and Director of the Department of Medicine at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS) in 1977. Peters' research centred on the immunology of renal and vascular disease, and in particular on how delineation of immunological mechanisms could lead to new therapies for these disorders. In 1987 Peters moved to Cambridge where he was Head of the University's School of Medicine until 2005, and transformed its standing. Peters' major contributions to British medicine have been through the promotion of clinical research: at the RPMS he was responsible for sustaining the outstanding reputation of the Department of Medicine; and in Cambridge under his leadership the University's Clinical School became a major centre for medical research, complementing Cambridge's strengths in basic biomedical science. In 1990 he introduced the Cambridge MB-PhD programme which provides an integrated research and clinical medicine training for gifted medical students, the first of its kind in the UK. He was a driving force for the partnership between the University, the Medical Research Council and Addenbrookes Hospital, for what has become the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Many of the leading medical academics in the UK worked with Peters at Hammersmith and/or Cambridge. From 2006 to 2008 Peters was Interim Director of the MRC National Institute of Medical Research and there conceived and initiated the development of what is now the Francis Crick Institute. From 2012 to 2016 he served on the executive committee of the Francis Crick Institute in London,. Peters has also made national contributions to UK science through his memberships of the Prime Minister's Advisory Council of Science and Technology (ACOST) and its successor, the Council of Science and Technology (CST). He was Chair of Council of Cardiff University from 2004 to 2011. From 2005 to 2016 he was a Senior Consultant in Research and Development for
GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...
.


Awards and honours

Peters was knighted in the 1993 New Year's Honours List, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1995 and was the President 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 Academy, National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its ...
from 2002 to 2006 He was a Founding Fellow of the
Learned Society of Wales The Learned Society of Wales () is a national academy, learned society and Charitable organization, charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the W ...
. Peters is an Honorary
Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of
Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...
and
Clare Hall, Cambridge Clare Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1966 by Clare College, Clare Hall is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students alongside postdoctoral researchers and fellows. It was est ...
, and has received Honorary Doctorates and Fellowships from the University of Wales College of Medicine and the following universities: Wales, Swansea, Aberdeen, Nottingham, Paris, Birmingham, Leicester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Sussex, Bristol, Keele, Warwick, UCL, Kings College, Imperial College and Cardiff. At the
Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...
he delivered the Goulstonian Lecture in 1976, the Bradshaw Lecture in 1985, and the Harveian Oration in 2004. On 15 June 2016 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medical Science (honoris causa) by the University of Cambridge. He is a Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society and a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Medicine.In 2018 he was made an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. In 2019 the research building housing the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research and the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit (the former MRC-Wellcome Trust Building) was renamed the Keith Peters Building.The Board Room at the Francis Crick Institute and a ward in the Renal Unit at Hammersmith Hospital are also named after him. Peters was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the
2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...
for services to the advancement of medical science.


See also

* List of Welsh medical pioneers


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Keith Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Living people 1938 births People educated at Port Talbot County Boys' Grammar School 21st-century Welsh medical doctors Welsh medical researchers 20th-century Welsh medical doctors Alumni of Cardiff University Academics of the University of Birmingham Regius Professors of Physic (Cambridge) Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal College of Pathologists People from Port Talbot Members of the National Academy of Medicine Presidents of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)