Committee Members

Professor Chris Higgins (Chair)

Professor Chris Higgins is Vice Chancellor and Warden of Durham University He has a high international standing in the biological and medical sciences and has held previous positions at the Imperial College London, University of Dundee, the University of Oxford and the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and is a Founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He has been a Member of Council of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, on the Governing Council of the John Innes Centre, and on the Council of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He has received the Howard Hughes International Research Scholarship, the Fleming Medal of the Society of General Microbiology and the CIBA Medal of the Biochemical Society.

Professor Higgins has extensive experience of chairing both academic and research committees and has served as a scientific advisor to the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cells. He is experienced and accomplished at communicating scientifically challenging issues to the media and general public. Professor Higgins was re- appointed as Chair of SEAC for a second term on 31st July 2007.

Mr Peter Jinman (Deputy Chair)

Mr. Peter Jinman is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and is senior partner of Jinman and Partners Veterinary Practice in Herefordshire working with farm, equine and companion animals. He is a Past President of the British Veterinary Association, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the BBC's Rural Affairs Advisory Committee. Peter Jinman brings to the Committee 25 years’ experience of handling agricultural veterinary issues, including BSE and scrapie. He has been a member of SEAC since May 2000.

Professor John Collinge

John Collinge is a Professor of Neurology and Head of the Department of Neurodegenerative Disease at the UCL Institute of Neurology in London. His research interests are in neurodegenerative diseases - in particular transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or prion diseases. He is Director of the UK Medical Research Council's Prion Unit, a multidisciplinary research unit focussing on human prion disease, and leads the NHS National Prion Clinic at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Professor Collinge has served on numerous Government advisory committees on prion disease at a national, European Union and international level. His laboratory demonstrated in 1996 that the new human prion disease, variant CJD, was caused by the same prion strain as that causing BSE in cattle and has made a number of key contributions to understanding the prion diseases since 1989. He is a Founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Society and was awarded a CBE for services to medical research.

Dr Azra Ghani

Azra Ghani is a Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London. Her research focuses on the development of mathematical models of infectious disease transmission with applications to a range of diseases including HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, malaria, tuberculosis, SARS and avian influenza. She has worked on the epidemiology of BSE and vCJD for over 10 years.

Professor Nigel Hooper

Professor Nigel Hooper is Professor of Biochemistry at the School of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Leeds and Deputy Director of the Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics. He is involved in basic research on the prion protein and on neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Hooper was a member of the Medical Research Council Neurosciences and Mental Health Board and of the Medical Research Council / Department of Health Research Advisory Group for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies.

Dr Richard Knight

Dr Richard Knight is a Reader in the University of Edinburgh, current Director of the National CJD Surveillance Unit (NCJDSU) and an Honorary Consultant Clinical Neurologist based at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. Half his time is spent in the NCJDSU and half in NHS general clinical neurology. His interest in CJD began in 1980 when working on research with Professor Bryan Matthews at Oxford University. His main prion disease research interests centre on the clinical features, epidemiology and diagnosis of human prion diseases. Aside from responsibilities for surveillance in the UK, he is an active member of a European collaborative group (EuroCJD).

Professor Corinne Lasmezas

Professor Lasmezas was head of the Laboratory for Prion Pathogenesis at the Service de Neurovirologie in France, from 2002 until 2005. In June 2005 she was appointed professor in the Department of Infectology at the Scripps Research Institute, Florida, USA. Professor Lasmezas has extensive experience of government committee work including sitting on committees for the French Food Agency and for the Scientific Board of the French Department of Health. She brings many years of relevant experience to SEAC.

Professor Jean Manson

Professor Jean Manson is Head of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) division and Neuropathogenesis Unit at the Institute for Animal Health (IAH). Professor Manson has been involved with research on TSEs for the last 14 years at IAH and is currently a member of the World Health Organisation Working Group on the Diagnosis and Study of TSEs.

Ms. Diane McCrea

Ms. Diane McCrea is an independent consultant on food and consumer affairs. Her work focuses on consumer issues and issues of food safety, food labelling, consumer information and the consumer input into regulatory affairs. Ms. McCrea is a member of the Food Standards Agency's Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs and the Agency’s Advisory Committee on Research. Ms. McCrea is also a member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council's Governing Body of the Institute of Food Research.

Professor Graham Medley

Professor Graham Medley is a Professor and Head of the Ecology and Epidemiology Research Group in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Warwick. Professor Medley has worked in the area of infectious disease epidemiology since 1983.

Professor James Nicoll

Professor James Nicoll is Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Southampton and Consultant Neuropathologist at Southampton General Hospital. Professor Nicoll is an expert in the field of neurodegeneration and has considerable experience of clinical neuropathology.

Dr Roland Salmon

Roland Salmon is Director of the National Public Health Service for Wales’ Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, in Cardiff, where he has worked as a field epidemiologist since 1990, on surveillance and the investigation of outbreaks of infectious diseases. Medically trained, he has further qualifications and experience in general practice and public health. He is an active teacher and researcher with a particular interest in zoonoses (diseases that spread from animals to man), notably verotoxigenic E.coli O157 infections and spongiform encephalopathies.

Professor Margaret Stanley

Professor Margaret Stanley is Professor in Epithelial Biology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge. Professor Stanley is a recognised expert in the pathogenesis of infectious disease in humans and animals, with an international reputation for her research into papillomaviruses. Professor Stanley is experienced at providing expert advice having served as a member of scientific advisory boards in both the private and public sectors in the United States and in Europe.

Professor Alun Williams

Professor Alun Williams is the Head of Pathology and Infectious
Diseases, The Royal Veterinary College, University of London. He is a
veterinary surgeon and research pathologist with over 15 years' research
experience in TSEs, particularly in the cellular and molecular aspects
of neurodegeneration in these diseases.

 

Page last updated: 5 March, 2008