Nancy Rothwell
Encyclopedia
Dame Nancy J. Rothwell, DBE, FRS (born 1956) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 physiologist and academic who became the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

 in July 2010, having been Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor since January 2010. Dame Nancy is also a director of pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca plc is a global pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's seventh-largest pharmaceutical company measured by revenues and has operations in over 100 countries...

.

Education and career

She was born at Tarleton
Tarleton
-Population :-Economy:As a result of soil on the former mossland, a major economic activity in Tarleton is market gardening, particularly growing salad crops....

, near Preston, Lancashire, and educated at Penwortham
Penwortham
-Landmarks:Penwortham Priory was built for the Rawsthorne family and redesigned by the Cumbrian architect George Webster. The priory was demolished due to the rapid expansion of the area and the need for new housing...

 Girls’ Grammar School. She enrolled at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

 and obtained a first class degree in Physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

 (1976) and a Ph.D
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 degree (1978) from Queen Elizabeth College
Queen Elizabeth College
Queen Elizabeth College had its origins in the Ladies' Department of King's College London, England, opened in 1885. The first King's 'extension' lectures for ladies were held at Richmond in 1871, and from 1878 in Kensington, with chaperones in attendance.In 1881, the Council resolved 'to...

 London. She was awarded a D.Sc
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...

 degree (1987) by King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...

. She was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Bath in 2009.

Her early research identified mechanisms of energy balance regulation, obesity
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...

 and cachexia
Cachexia
Cachexia or wasting syndrome is loss of weight, muscle atrophy, fatigue, weakness, and significant loss of appetite in someone who is not actively trying to lose weight...

. In 1984 she was awarded a Royal Society Research Fellowship and relocated to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 in 1987. She was appointed to a Chair in physiology in 1994, then a prestigious Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council (UK)
The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...

 Research Chair in 1998. Her current research focuses on the role of inflammation in brain disease and has identified the role of the cytokine interleukin
Interleukin
Interleukins are a group of cytokines that were first seen to be expressed by white blood cells . The term interleukin derives from "as a means of communication", and "deriving from the fact that many of these proteins are produced by leukocytes and act on leukocytes"...

-1 (IL-1) in diverse forms of brain injury. Her recent studies have begun to elucidate the mechanisms regulating IL-1 release and its action, and her group has conducted the first early clinical trial of an IL-1 inhibitor in strokes. She served as president of the British Neuroscience Association and a council member of MRC.

From October 2004 she was vice-president for research of the University.
Rothwell currently (2010) oversees a research group of about 20 scientists, with significant external funding and was announced to succeed Alan Gilbert as President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

 on 1 July 2010. She is a Trustee of Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is a cancer research and awareness charity in the United Kingdom, formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Its aim is to reduce the number of deaths from cancer. As the world's largest independent cancer...

, the Campaign for Medical Progress, a Council member of BBSRC, Chair of the Research Defence Society
Research Defence Society
The Research Defence Society was a British lobby group. At the end of 2008 the Research Defence Society merged with another UK organisation - the Coalition for Medical Progress to form Understanding Animal Research ....

 and the Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 as an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. With an endowment of around £13.9 billion, it is the United Kingdom's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research...

 Public Engagement Strategy Committee, and a non-executive director of Astrazeneca
AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca plc is a global pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's seventh-largest pharmaceutical company measured by revenues and has operations in over 100 countries...

. In 1998 she delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including young people, in an informative and entertaining manner....

, televised by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

.

In 2003 she won the prestigious Pfizer Research Prize, and, in 2004 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). In 2005 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

In January 2010 she was appointed Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor since January: until Alan Gilbert retired she was acting President due to his sick leave. On 21 June 2010, she was appointed President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester. She assumed her post on 1 July 2010, succeeding Professor Alan Gilbert, who had retired after nearly six years. Dame Nancy became the first woman to lead The University of Manchester or either of its two predecessor institutions. Commenting on her appointment, Dame Nancy said: "I am honoured and delighted to be invited to lead the University at this exciting time. I am determined to maintain the strategic focus that we have developed over the past six years and to work closely with colleagues to identify new priorities and opportunities for the University in the very challenging external environment that we will face over the next few years."

Chairman of the Appointment Panel and Chairman-elect of the University's Board of Governors Mr Anil Ruia said: "Dame Nancy will bring her own distinctive strengths, perspective and style to the role of President and Vice-Chancellor which will enable the University to build upon the remarkable progress that we have made under Professor Alan Gilbert's leadership."

Society of Biology

In 2009 Nancy Rothwell become President of the newly formed Society of Biology
Society of Biology
The Society of Biology is a charitable organization in the United Kingdom created to advance the interests of biology. Formed in 2010 by the merger of the Biosciences Federation and the Institute of Biology, the Society has some 10,000 individual members and through its corporate specialist member...


Selected publications

  • 2002: Who Wants to Be a Scientist?: choosing science as a career. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ISBN 0521520924
  • Peer-reviewed publications by Nancy Rothwell (in PubMed
    PubMed
    PubMed is a free database accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health maintains the database as part of the Entrez information retrieval system...

    ).

External links

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