UCL staff and alumni recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours

A host of current UCL staff and alumni were commended for their services to science, research, innovation, higher education and the arts.

Professor Rebecca Shipley (UCL Mechanical Engineering) was awarded an OBE for services to the development of the Continuous Positive Airways Pressure device during the pandemic, nationally and internationally.

Professor Shipley is the Director of the UCL Institute for Healthcare Engineering. In 2020 she led a team of engineers from UCL and Mercedes-AMG HPP and clinicians from UCLH to reverse engineer Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) breathing aids. Named the UCL-Ventura, the devices  are helping patients in over 15 countries, and the team’s logistics partner GTEM has now sent over 1,100 to India and 130 to Nepal to support the countries’ fight against recent surges in Covid-19.

Commenting on her award, Professor Shipley said: “It is a privilege to be part of the UCL-Ventura team contributing to the global Covid-19 pandemic response. We initially focused our efforts on supplying devices to the NHS, with over 130 hospitals supported.

“Within a year, over 15,000 devices are in use in more than 15 countries, either locally manufactured or supplied through charities. Covid-19 remains a global challenge and the UCL-Ventura provides a timely reminder that no single nation can succeed alone; ultimately only international effort will prevail.”

Professor Mark Emberton, the Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, was awarded an OBE for services to prostate cancer research.

Professor Emberton is Professor of Interventional Oncology at UCL and Honorary Consultant Urologist at University College Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He is also a Founding Pioneer of Prostate Cancer UK.

He said: “We are very fortunate to have been able to work with some truly exceptional colleagues here at UCL and at our partner hospitals in order to improve the care of men with prostate cancer.

“But most of all I would like to thank the many thousands of patients that have placed their trust in us and have chosen to participate in our many clinical studies, knowing that by doing so they would help to improve the outcomes for the men that would follow.”

Dr Laura Shallcross (UCL Institute of Health Informatics) was awarded an MBE for services to adult social care during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Shallcross is an Associate Professor in Public Health Medicine and leads a research group using electronic health records to investigate the diagnosis and management of infection and antimicrobial resistance, aiming to improve antibiotic use in health and social care settings.

Commenting on her award, Dr Shallcross said: “It is really wonderful to be recognised in this way, and a testament to the incredible hard work and commitment of the Vivaldi (Covid-19 in care homes) research team over the past 12 months. This award will spur us on in our efforts to build a positive legacy from the pandemic for care home staff and residents through research.”

Emeritus Professor Phyllida Barlow, CBE, (The Slade School of Fine Art at UCL), was awarded a Damehood for services to art. A UCL alumna, Professor Barlow taught at the Slade for 40 years, retiring from teaching in 2009. Since then her reputation as a sculptor has risen to even greater heights and is one of the most celebrated women artists in the UK. In 2017, she was selected to represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale, the most significant global art platform.

Professor Alissa Goodman (UCL Institute of Education) was awarded a CBE for services to social science. As Professor of Economics and Director of the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), Alissa leads some of the UK’s longest running national birth cohort studies. Her research focuses on inequality and poverty, and the intergenerational transmission of advantage and disadvantage. Before joining UCL, she was a deputy director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Professor Goodman said: “I’m hugely honoured to have received this award, and immensely grateful to the many thousands of cohort study participants up and down the country who have given up their time generously, since they were children and over the course of their lives, to take part in research that changes lives and gives the most marginalised in society a voice.

“I’m also so grateful to all my wonderful colleagues at CLS, who work with such dedication and passion to develop these fantastic cohort studies, that make up such a unique and important part of the UK’s data infrastructure. We’ve had a tremendous response to our special Covid-19 surveys, which are shining a light on how long-standing inequalities have been exacerbated by the pandemic. We’re also working on assessing the feasibility of a major new birth cohort study, to capture the experiences of a new generation of babies being born in the UK at such a critical time.”

Professor John Deanfield (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science) and Director, National Institute of Cardiovascular Outcomes Research, was awarded a CBE for services to the Prevention and Treatment of Heart Disease.

Professor Marie Scully (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science), was awarded an MBE for services to blood disorders. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Professor Scully, who is also a Consultant Haematologist at University College London Hospitals (UCLH), discovered the mechanism behind rare cases of blood clots and low platelets seen in patients who have had the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

Professor Scully said: "This is an amazing accolade and a wonderful surprise, particularly as the nomination was from our patients who have been the most important part of the journey in improving outcomes in a rare disease, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP)."

Also recognised was journalist and broadcaster Nick Ross, who was awarded a CBE for services to broadcasting, charity and crime prevention.

Nick is founder of the Jill Dando Fund, which funded the establishment of the Jill Dando Institute of Security & Crime Science at UCL, the first institute in the world devoted to crime science.

He said: "The citation is for 3 different things, broadcasting, charity work and crime prevention, but the truth is it’s all been a bit of a privilege. Broadcasting was an honour in itself, and the charity and crime reduction initiatives flowed out of that. My role on BBC’s Crimewatch prompted the idea of Crime Science bringing lots of disciplines together and using scientific methods to make people safer, and eventually to founding the Jill Dando Institute which is a lasting legacy to my BBC colleague. The JDI has grown into a major department at UCL where I am still a visiting professor, and it’s being copied around the world. This year is its 20th anniversary and in many ways this honour is for the university and for my colleagues there."

In March this year, as part of the honorary awards to foreign nationals, Professor May Cassar (UCL Bartlett School of Environment, Energy & Resources) was awarded an Honorary CBE for services to heritage. Professor Cassar is the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Heritage and directs the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Science and Engineering in Arts, Heritage and Archaeology.

Professor Cassar said: “I am naturally very pleased to have been awarded this honour both personally and for the recognition it gives to the key role of heritage. I am also grateful for the support I have had from so many Bartlett and UCL colleagues, and external partners over the years.”

Other awards to UCL alumni, former staff and honorary degree holders presented in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list include:

Daniel Black (UCL BSc Geography 2015), BEM for services to laser technology innovation.

Dr Ellen Brooks Pollock (UCL MSci Mathematics 2003), OBE for services to the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling and SAGE during the Covid-19 response.

Professor Jagjit Chadha (UCL BSc Economics 1988), OBE for services to economics and economic policy.

Peter Cullimore (UCL BSc Engineering 1958), MBE for services to the provision of social care.

Professor John Deanfield (UCL MBBS Medicine 1975), CBE for services to the prevention and treatment of heart disease.

Michael Des Tombe (UCL LLM Law 2008), CBE for public service.

Professor Sir Peter Horby (UCL Medicine MBBS (Clinical) 1992), Knight Bachelor for services to medical research.

Dr Richard Marshall (UCL MBBS 1991, PhD Medical Sciences 1999), CBE for services to UK science and the Covid-19 response.

Kristen McLeod (UCL History & French 2005), CBE for services to the life sciences sector

Mark Proctor (UCL MEng Biochemical Engineering 2002), CBE for Covid-19 vaccine supply.

Ebony-Jewel Rainford Brent (UCL MA Chemistry 2007), MBE for services to cricket and charity.

Professor Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili (SERC post-doctoral research fellow at UCL 1989-91), CBE for services to Science and Public Engagement in STEM.

Dr Thomas Wells (UCL 1991), MBE for services to medicine and people with disabilities in the medical profession.

Professor James Wood (UCL BSc Physiology 1985), OBE for services to veterinary science.

Tammy Sandhu (MSc International Public Policy 2005), MBE for services to diversity and inclusion.

Links

• Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2021
• Professor Rebecca Shipley’s academic profile
• Professor Mark Emberton’s academic profile
• Dr Laura Shallcross’ academic profile
• Emeritus Professor Phyllida Barlow’s academic profile
• Professor John Deanfield’s academic profile
• Professor Alissa Goodman’s academic profile
• Professor Marie Scully’s academic profile
• Professor May Cassar’s academic profile