Professor Geoffrey Smith

Photo of Professor Geoffrey Smith

BSc, PhD, FMedSci, FSB, FRS

Emeritus Fellow
Emeritus Professor of Pathology

Geoffrey L. Smith is Professor of Pathology and a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow. He obtained his PhD (1981) for work with influenza virus at NIMR, London. Then as a postdoc at NIH, USA (1981-84), he developed vaccinia virus (the smallpox vaccine) as an expression vector and established the use of genetically engineered viruses as live vaccines. He continued working with poxviruses after returning to UK at Cambridge (1985-9), Oxford (1989-2000), Imperial College London (2000-11) and now as Head of the Department of Pathology in Cambridge. His research studies the interactions of poxviruses with the host cell and immune system. He has several roles promoting microbiology and advising on science policy. Currently, he is President of the International Union of Microbiological Societies, Chairman of the WHO Advisory Committee for Variola Virus (smallpox) Research, Chairman of the Royal Society Committee for Scientific Aspects of International Security, a member of the Royal Society Science Policy Advisory Group, and a Governor of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Institute of Biology (2002) and a Fellow of the Royal Society (2003). He was awarded the Feldberg Foundation Prize in Medical and Biological Science (2005) and elected a Founding Member of the European Academy of Microbiology (2008) and a member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina) (2011).

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