Fiona Powrie, Director of the Kennedy Institute was awarded honorary membership in recognition of her contributions to the field of immunology, including her seminal work on regulatory T cells and pioneering gut immunology research. The awards were announced at the recent British Society for Immunology Congress held in Edinburgh.
Professors Dame Sarah Gilbert, Teresa Lambe, and Sir Andrew Pollard received the awards for developing the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine, and all four have inspired scores of new immunologists in the field.
Fiona said: 'As an immunologist it is particularly special to be recognised by my colleagues with Lifetime Membership of the British Society for Immunology. I have been a member of the BSI since I started my training and benefited then from the science and networking opportunities as do members of my lab today.'
Professors Gilbert, Lambe and Pollard also accepted the Global Impact and Innovation Award in recognition of all those involved in the design and development of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, including the scientists, support staff and clinical trial volunteers.
Professor Teresa Lambe OBE, Head of Vaccine Immunology at the Oxford Vaccine Group, said: 'It is an honour to be recognised with this award from my fellow immunologists, but in particular I was humbled to accept the award on behalf of the teams who have worked across the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine development here at Oxford, whose efforts have been integral to seeing this vaccine developed in record time, with over 2 billion doses now released worldwide.'