Sir Roy Malcolm Anderson (born 12 April 1947) is a leading international authority on the epidemiology and control of infectious diseases. He is the author, with Robert May, of the most highly cited book in this field, entitled '' Infectious Diseases of Humans: Dynamics and Control''. His early work was on the population ecology of infectious agents before focusing on the epidemiology and control of human infections. His published research includes studies of the major viral, bacterial and parasitic infections of humans, wildlife and livestock. This has included major studies on

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the virus SARS-CoV-1, the first identified strain of the SARS-related coronavirus. The first known cases occurred in November 2002, and the ...

foot and mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that primarily affects even-toed ungulates, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six d ...

bovine tuberculosis Bovines (subfamily Bovinae) comprise a diverse group of 10 genera of medium to large-sized ungulates, including cattle, bison, African buffalo, water buffalos, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. The members of this group are classif ...

bovine spongiform encephalopathy Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and always fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of th ...

(BSE),

influenza A ''Influenza A virus'' (''Alphainfluenzavirus influenzae'') or IAV is the only species of the genus ''Alphainfluenzavirus'' of the virus family '' Orthomyxoviridae''. It is a pathogen with strains that infect birds and some mammals, as well as c ...

antibiotic resistant bacteria A list of antibiotic resistant bacteria is provided below. These bacteria have shown antibiotic resistance (or antimicrobial resistance). Gram positive ''Clostridioides difficile'' ''Clostridioides difficile'' is a nosocomial pathogen tha ...

, the

neglected tropical diseases Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of tropical infections that are common in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. They are caused by a variety of pathogens, such as viruses, bacteri ...

and most recently

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. Anderson is the author of over 650 peer-reviewed scientific articles with an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 125.

Education and early life

Anderson was born the son of James Anderson and Betty Watson-Weatherburn. He attended Duncombe School,

Bengeo Bengeo is a suburb and former village and civil parish on the north-west edge of the county town of Hertford in Hertfordshire, England. It is an electoral ward of Hertford. In 1891 the parish had a population of 2586. In 1894 the parish was abo ...

and Richard Hale School. He was awarded a 1st Class

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

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 ...

followed by 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 ...

parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their host (biology), hosts, and the relationship between them. As a List of biology disciplines, biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in questio ...

in 1971.

Controversies

Anderson resigned from 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 ...

after admitting that he had falsely alleged that a colleague,

Sunetra Gupta Sunetra Gupta (born 15 March 1965) is an Indian-born British infectious disease epidemiologist and a professor of theoretical epidemiology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. She has performed research on the transmission dynamic ...

, had won a position by having an affair with her head of department. He also resigned from the

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

. Gupta demanded a public apology which the male scientist later gave. He then went to

Career and research

He moved to the Biomathematics Department at the University of Oxford as an

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

working on stochastic models of infectious disease spread under Professor Maurice Bartlett FRS. He was appointed to a Lectureship in Parasitology at King's College London in 1974 before moving back to Imperial as a lecturer in Ecology and then becoming Professor of Parasite Ecology in 1982. He was head of the Department of Biology from 1984 to 1993. At Imperial College, he also served as Director of the Wellcome Centre for Parasite Infections from 1989 to 1993. In 1993 Anderson moved to the

where he was head of the Zoology department and held the

Linacre Chair of Zoology Linacre is a word deriving from Middle English ''līn'' ('flax') and ''aker'' ('field'), thus originally denoting places associated with a flax-field. It may refer to: *Linacre (surname), including a list of people with the name *Linacre College, O ...

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

until 2000. During this time he founded and served as Director of the Wellcome Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease - the first such centre in the UK entirely focused on research into the epidemiology and control of infectious diseases - until he resigned "''following two damning reports on the way that the centre has been managed''", however the director of the

noted that there was "''“no question of the scientific credibility of Roy Anderson or the centre. It is doing first class work and our priority is to maintain that.”''. His former doctoral students include Angela Mclean.

Chief Scientific Advisor of the Ministry of Defence

He was chief scientific advisor to the UK

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

from October 2004 to September 2007. After that, he returned to his chair in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at

.Prof. Anderson's Biography at Imperial College
as of 2 July 2008.

Rector of Imperial College

Anderson was appointed the 14th

Rector of Imperial College The president of Imperial College London is the highest academic official of Imperial College London. The president is the chief executive and is elected by the council of the college and chairman of the senate. The position is currently held by ...

on 1 July 2008. In his time as Rector he focused on strengthening the emphasis on teaching as well as world renown research at Imperial, and on securing a new site in the White City, West London, to facilitate the expansion of Imperial's molecular and biomedical research, halls of residence, support for innovation and entrepreneurship and teaching facilities. He also negotiated the first overseas campus venture for Imperial in partnership with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore which led to the creation of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore designed to train doctors to meet Singapore Healthcare needs. He tendered his resignation in November 2009 stating his wish to return to his primary interest in scientific research on global health issues.

Director of the London Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Research

He established the London Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases (LCNTDR) in 2013. The LCNTDR was launched with the aim of providing focused operational and research support for NTD control. The LCNTDR member institutions house leading NTD experts with a wide range of specialties, making the centre a valuable resource for cross-sectoral research and collaboration. It is a joint initiative between the

Royal Veterinary College The Royal Veterinary College (informally the RVC) is a veterinary school located in London and a member institution of the federal University of London. The RVC was founded in 1791 and joined the University of London in 1949. It is the oldest an ...

, Imperial College London, the

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The institu ...

, and the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

Membership of Councils, Boards and Committees (National and International)

He has sat on numerous government and international agency committees advising on public health and disease control including the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

, The

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS; , ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ex ...

, and the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be List of wealthiest charitable foundations, the third largest char ...

. He is currently a Vice-President of Fauna Flora International, Chairman of Oriole Global Health Limited, Director of the London Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Research, Trustee of the Banga Trust and a Trustee of the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences. He was a non-executive director of

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 ...

2008–2018, a member of the International Advisory Board of Hakluyt and Company Ltd. 2008–2019, and Chairman of the International Advisory Board of PTTGC Company Thailand, 2014–2018. Other memberships: * Member of the International Advisory Board of the Malaysian Government Biotechnology Initiative (Biotechnology Corporation), 2010-2017 * Chairman Pearson Independent Advisory Board on Making Education Work, 2012-2018 * Member of the Singapore National Research Foundation Fellowship Advisory Board, 2012-2015 * Trustee of the

, 2008–2016. Member of The Royal Society Science Policy Advisory Group, 2008-2014 * Member of the International Advisory Board of the Thailand National Science and Technology Development Agency, 2010-2017 * Chairman, Advisory Board, Gates Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI), Imperial College, 2001-2018 * Member of the advisory panel of The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), 2012-2015 * Member of the International Advisory board of ATHENA, (National AIDS Patient Database Charity), Amsterdam, Holland, 2002-2017 * Member of the Singapore National Research Foundation International Advisory Board, 2009-2012 * Chairman of the review board of the National Vaccine research programme in the Netherlands, 2011 * Chairman of the review board of the National Public Health services research in the Netherlands (RIVM), 2010 * Council Member Royal College of Art, 2008-2011 * Member of the Advisory Board of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Imperial College, 2007-2010 * Member of the Advisory Board of the Mathematics Institute, Imperial College London, 2007-2010 * Governor of the Institute for Government London, 2007-2011 * Chairman of the World Health Organization Science and Technology Advisory Board on Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2007-2011 * Member Scientific Advisory Board, Bill and Melinda Gates Initiative on Grand Challenges in Global Health, Gates Foundation, 2005-2011 * Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Board, Ministry of Defence UK, 2007-2008 * Chairman of the Major Investments Approval Board (IAB), Ministry of Defence, UK, 2004-2008 * Member of the Defence Council of the United Kingdom, 2004-2007 * Council member of the

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British UK Research Councils, Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical scienc ...

(EPSRC), 2004-2007 * Council member of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), 2005-2007 * Member of the Department of Health Science Advisory Board for Epidemic Outbreaks, 2001-2011 * Member of the Government Chief Scientist's Science Advisory Board for pandemic influenza, 2003-2010 * Chairman of the Science Advisory Council (SAC) of the UK Government's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), 2003-2005 * Member of the Science Advisory Committee of the UK Health Protection Agency, 2004-2006 * Member, US National Academies of Science Committee 'Advances in Technology and the Prevention of their Application to Next Generation Biowarfare Agents', 2003–06 * Member World Health Organization (WHO) Advisory Group on SARS, Geneva, 2003 * Member, Health Protections Agency (HPA) Advisory Group on SARS, 2003 * Member of the Advisory Board, Earth Institute,

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, New York USA, 2003-2007 * Chairman, Canadian Innovation Fund Committee for Infectious Disease Research, 2002-2003 * Member of Science Advisory Group, Civil Contingencies Committee, 2001-2002 * Member of Foot and Mouth Scientific Advisory Group, 2001 * Member of the Advisory Board of the Bernard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, 1999-2002 * Member of the International Advisory Panel for the Joint Infrastructure Fund run by Office of Science and Technology and the Wellcome Trust, 1999-2000 * Chairman, UNAIDS reference group on the Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS, 1999–2004. * Member of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC), 1997-2001 * Member of the UNAIDS Vaccine Advisory Committee (VAC) of the Joint United National Programme HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), 1996-1999 * Member of Joint Committee on Vaccination & Immunisation, Department of Health, 1996-2000 * Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Isaac Newton Institute,

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 ...

, 1995 * Council Member, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 1993-2010 * The

Trustee 1991, Governor, 1992-2000 * Council Member,

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 ...

, 1992-1995 * Trustee, Tropical Health and Education Trust, 1991-2008

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Honours and awards

Anderson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1986, One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: and was knighted in the

2006 Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2006 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 17 June 2006, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2006.Saint Lucia list: Antigua & Barbuda list: The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before th ...

list. Other awards and honours include: * Member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

(MAE) * Foreign Member, French Academy of Sciences * Foreign Member, United States of America National Academy of Medicine * Honorary Fellow, Royal Statistical Society * Honorary Fellow, Royal Agricultural Society * Honorary Fellow, Institute of Actuaries * Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Pathologists * Honorary Member, British Society for Parasitologists * Honorary Fellow,

Linacre College, Oxford Linacre College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college was founded in 1962 and is named after Thomas Linacre (1460–1524), founder of the Royal College of Ph ...

* Ernst Chain Prize, Imperial College, 2005 * Weldon Memorial Prize 1989 * Croonian Lecture 1994 * Distinguished Statistical Ecologist Award, American Society of Ecology 1998 * Huxley Memorial Medal, Imperial College, 1981 * Scientific Medal, Zoological Society of London, 1982 * C.A. Wright Memorial Medal, British Society for Parasitology, 1986 * David Starr Jordan Prize and Medal, Universities of Stanford, Cornell and Indiana, 1987 * Chalmers Memorial Medal, Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1988 * John Hull Grundy Lecture Medal 1990 * Frink Medal for British Zoologists, The Zoological Society of London, 1993 * Joseph Smadel Medal, Infectious Disease Society of America, 1994 * Storer Lecture Medal,

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, 1994 * Croonian Prize, Royal Society, 1994 * Leiden Lecture Medal, Institute for Tropical Medicine, Rotterdam, 1995 * Thomas Francis Memorial Lecture Medal, University of Michigan, 1995 * Honorary DSc from the Universities of East Anglia, Aberdeen and Stirling

Personal life

Anderson married Janet Meyrick in April 2014 and has three step-children. He enjoys walking, travel to remote destinations, natural history, conservation and wildlife photography.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Roy 1947 births Living people English zoologists British epidemiologists Alumni of Imperial College London Academics of Imperial College London Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Rectors of Imperial College London Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Knights Bachelor Chief Scientific Advisers to the Ministry of Defence Linacre Professors of Zoology GSK plc people Members of the National Academy of Medicine