Sir Stephen Townley Holgate (born 2 May 1947) is a British physician who specializes in immunopharmacology, respiratory medicine and allergies, and asthma and air pollution, based at the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

and

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust which operates the University Hospital Southampton. Within this hospital are the Southampton General Hospital, the Southampton Children's Hospital and the Princess ...

, UK.

Education

Holgate was educated at The King's School in Macclesfield until 1965, when he joined Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, London (now incorporated into

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 ...

) where he received a BSc and MB BS. After completing postgraduate medical training in London at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases and the Royal Brompton Hospital, he moved to Salisbury and Southampton where he completed his specialist higher medical training in general and respiratory medicine. While a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Southampton, he researched the link between asthma death and over-use of beta-adrenergic bronchodilator inhalers. In 1978, Holgate received a

Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

(MD) degree from the University of London. In 1980, Holgate completed a two year post doctoral fellowship with K. Frank Austen at the Robert Brigham Hospital and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Boston provided by the Dorothy Temple Cross MRC endowment and 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 ...

Career and research

In 1980, Holgate began work at the University of Southampton researching the causes of human asthma and its treatment. After establishing the role that mast cells and other effector cells play in triggering the acute allergic inflammatory response in asthma, he examined the mechanisms of asthma chronicity and variability. In 2002, Holgate collaborated with Donna Davies and Genome Therapeutics Corporation in Waltham, Mass, USA to identify the first novel asthma susceptibility gene of ADAM33 that encodes a metalloprotease linked to airway hyperresponsiveness and remodelling. This originated from the theory that in severe asthma, the airways behaved like a chronic wound with impaired epithelial repair and underlying tissue remodelling involving the deposition of new matrix, mucous metaplasia and proliferation of smooth muscle. Holgate and his research group demonstrated the causal link between exacerbations in the autumn and winter months and respiratory virus infections. This led to the subsequent discovery that epithelial cells from those with moderate-severe asthma were deficient in their ability to generate an innate interferon beta response when infected by human rhinoviruses. In 2003 Holgate, Donna Davies and used this patented information to create the

University spin-off University spin-offs (also known as university spin-outs) are companies that transform technological inventions developed from university research that are likely to remain unexploited otherwise. They are a subcategory of research spin-offs. Prom ...

company Synairgen to explore the potential therapeutic benefits of inhaled interferon beta in attenuating virus-induced exacerbations of asthma and COPD. Synairgen completed a Phase II placebo-controlled trial to treat COVID-19.

Awards and honours

Holgate was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in 2011 and 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 2020 for services to medical research.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holgate, Stephen Townley Living people 20th-century British medical doctors 21st-century British medical doctors Academics of the University of Southampton Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal College of Pathologists Knights Bachelor 1947 births Air pollution in the United Kingdom Presidents of the British Thoracic Society