Sir Mark Brian Pepys (born 18 September 1944) is a South African-born British academic of medicine. He was until 2011 Professor of Medicine at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and Head of Medicine at the Hampstead Campus and the Royal Free Hospital. He is listed as a member of the Jewish Medical Association UK.

Education

Pepys was born in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, South Africa, the son of physician Jack Pepys and Rhoda Gertrude Pepys (''née'' Kussel). He moved to the UK in 1948. He finished his early education 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 ...

, and then qualified as a medical doctor at

University College London Medical School UCL Medical School is the medical school of University College London (UCL), a public research university in London, England. The school provides a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programmes and also has a medical ...

. He then returned to Cambridge where he was awarded a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

in 1973.

Awards and honours

Pepys won the

GlaxoSmithKline Prize The GlaxoSmithKline Prize and Lecture is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for original contributions to medical and veterinary sciences published within ten years from the date of the award". Sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, the medal is awar ...

in 2007 "for his excellent work as a clinical scientist who has identified specific proteins as new therapeutic targets and developed novel drugs with potential use in amyloidosis, Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease". In 1998, Pepys was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). His nomination reads: In 1999, he became director of the

Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins. Mark Pepys has recently won the 2008 Ernst Chain Prize for his work on

amyloid Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a fibrillar morphology of typically 7–13 nm in diameter, a β-sheet secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be stained by particular dyes, such as Congo red. In the human ...

diseases, established by

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

in recognition of leaders in their fields. Pepys was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the

2012 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2012 were announced on 31 December 2011 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand,SAP scan A SAP scan is a type of nuclear medicine imaging test which uses iodine-123 (123I) and serum amyloid P component (SAP) to diagnose amyloidosis. In patients with amyloidosis, large deposits of SAP coat the affected organs, in addition to the low l ...

References

1944 births Living people People from Cape Town South African scientists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of the Royal College of Pathologists {{England-scientist-stub