Sir Rory Edwards Collins FMedSci FRS (born 3 January 1955) is a British physician who is Professor of Medicine and

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

at the Clinical Trial Service Unit within the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, the head of the Nuffield Department of Population Health and a Fellow of

Green Templeton College, Oxford Green Templeton College (GTC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college is located on the former Green College site on Woodstock Road next to the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in North Oxford and i ...

. His work has been in the establishment of large-scale epidemiological studies of the causes, prevention and treatment of

heart attacks A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is retr ...

, other

vascular disease Vascular disease is a class of diseases of the vessels of the circulatory system in the human body, body, including blood vessels – the arteries and veins, and the lymphatic vessels. Vascular disease is a subgroup of cardiovascular disease. Diso ...

, and

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, while also being closely involved in developing approaches to the combination of results from related studies ("

meta-analyses Meta-analysis is a method of synthesis of quantitative data from multiple independent studies addressing a common research question. An important part of this method involves computing a combined effect size across all of the studies. As such, th ...

"). Since September 2005, he has been the Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of the

UK Biobank UK Biobank is a long-term prospective biobank study in the United Kingdom (UK) that houses the de-identified biological samples and health-related data of half a million people. The volunteer participants aged 40-69 were recruited between 2006 ...

, a

prospective study A prospective cohort study is a longitudinal cohort study that follows over time a group of similar individuals ( cohorts) who differ with respect to certain factors under study to determine how these factors affect rates of a certain outcome. ...

of 500,000 British people aged 40–69 at recruitment.

Education

Collins was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2-18 private, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and studied Medicine at

St Thomas's Hospital Medical School St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London was one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the UK. The school was absorbed to form part of GKT School of Medical Education. History It was part of one of the oldest hospitals in ...

, part of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

(1974–1980), and Statistics at

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

from 1976 to 1977 and the

from 1982 to 1983.

Career and research

Since 1985, Collins has been co-director with Sir Richard Peto of the

's Clinical Trial Services and Epidemiological Studies units. In 1996, he was appointed Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Oxford, supported by the

British Heart Foundation The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is a cardiovascular research charity in the United Kingdom. It funds medical research related to heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors, and runs influencing work aimed at shaping public policy ...

. Since September 2005, he has also been acting as the Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of the

, a prospective study of 500,000 British people, aged 40–69 at recruitment. Collins' work has been in the establishment of large-scale epidemiological studies of the causes, prevention and treatment of heart attacks, other vascular disease, and cancer. He has created and led large studies that transformed

statins Statins (or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) are a class of medications that lower cholesterol. They are prescribed typically to people who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) carriers of cholesterol play ...

from esoteric drugs for familial hypercholesterolaemia into widely-used generics that prevent millions of heart attacks and ischaemic strokes annually. His large placebo-controlled trials and worldwide Cholesterol Treatment Trialists' meta-analyses confirmed that statins reduce the risk of heart attack, discovered that they reduce the risk of

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

, and demonstrated their safety and efficacy in many different types of patient. His research has been funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Awards and honours

Collins 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

2011 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2011 were announced on 31 December 2010 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,New Zealand"New Year Honours 2011"(14 January 2011) 2 '' New Zealand Gazette'' 55. The Cook IslandsThe Cook Islands: Grenada,Grenada: ...

for services to science. He was elected as a Fellow 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 ...

in 2004 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: Collins was included in Time's 2024 list of 100 most influential people in health.

References

Living people Place of birth missing (living people) People educated at Dulwich College British medical researchers British public health doctors Knights Bachelor Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of Green Templeton College, Oxford Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of the Royal Society 1955 births {{UK-med-bio-stub