Sir Chris Whitty | |
|---|---|
.png) Whitty in 2020 | |
| Chief Medical Officer for England | |
| Assumed office 2 October 2019 | |
| Deputy |
|
| Preceded by | Sally Davies |
| Government Chief Scientific Adviser | |
Acting | |
| In office 18 September 2017 – 4 April 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Walport |
| Succeeded by | Patrick Vallance |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Christopher John MacRae Whitty (1966-04-21)21 April 1966 (age 59) Gloucester, England |
| Education | |
Sir Christopher John MacRae WhittyKCB FRS (born 21 April 1966) is a Britishepidemiologist, serving asChief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government since 2019.
Whitty was Chief Scientific Adviser to theDepartment of Health and Social Care and Head of theNational Institute for Health and Care Research from 2016 to 2021. He was also theActing Government Chief Scientific Adviser from 2017 to 2018. He is emeritusGresham Professor of Physic.
From March 2020, Whitty played a key role in the response to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the UK, alongside Government Chief Scientific Adviser SirPatrick Vallance. Whitty was appointedKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the2022 New Year Honours for services to public health.
Whitty was born inGloucester on 21 April 1966, the first of four sons born to Kenneth and Susannah Whitty.[2][3][4][5] His father was aBritish Council officer, who was posted to various countries includingNigeria, where the family lived inKaduna, andMalawi. While Deputy Director of the British Council inAthens, Kenneth Whitty was murdered by militants from theAbu Nidal Organisation,[6] in 1984, when Whitty was 17.[7] His mother was a teacher.[5][8][9] His maternal uncleSir Christopher MacRae was also adiplomat,[10] and his grandmotherGrace Summerhayes was a pioneeringobstetrician in Africa,[3] who helped set up the first maternity hospital inGhana in 1928.[7] His paternal grandfatherJohn Whitty DSO MC was killed in World War II and his step grandfather was SirGeorge Coldstream.
Whitty was sent back to the UK for his schooling,[3] where he attendedWindlesham House School inPulborough, West Sussex, andMalvern College, Worcestershire. He then studied atPembroke College, Oxford for aBA in physiology (1988) and aDSc in medical science (2011);Wolfson College, Oxford for aBM BCh in medicine (1991), where he was also the founding chair of theNational Postgraduate Committee;[11] theLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for aDTM&H (1996) and anMSc in epidemiology (1996);Northumbria University for anLLM inmedical law (2005);Heriot-Watt University for anMBA (2010); andThe Open University for aGrDip in economics.[4][5]
Whitty is a practisingNational Health Service (NHS) consultant physician atUniversity College London Hospitals (UCLH) and theHospital for Tropical Diseases, and wasGresham Professor of Physic atGresham College, a post dating back to 1597.[4][12][13] Until becoming CMO he was Professor of Public and International Health at theLondon School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) where he was also Director of the Malaria Centre and he remains a visiting professor there.[14] He worked as a physician and researcher into preventing or treating infectious diseases in the UK, Africa and Asia, especially malaria and other parasitic diseases but also other infections of resource-poor settings. In 2008 theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the LSHTM £31 million formalaria research in Africa. At the time, Whitty was the principal investigator for the ACT Consortium, which conducted the research programme.[5][15]
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From 2009 to 2015, Whitty was Chief Scientific Adviser and director of research for theDepartment for International Development (DFID).[12][5][16] He led the Research and Evidence Division, which worked on health, agriculture, climate change, energy, infrastructure, economic and governance research. During this time, with co-authorsNeil Ferguson andJeremy Farrar, he wrote an article inNature titled "Infectious disease: Tough choices to reduce Ebola transmission",[17] explaining the UK government's response toEbola in support of the government of Sierra Leone, which he took a leading role in designing, including the proposal to build and support centres where people could self-isolate voluntarily if they suspected that they could have the disease.[18]
From January 2016 to August 2021, Whitty was Chief Scientific Adviser to theDepartment of Health and Social Care, responsible for the department's research and development work, including being Head of theNational Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).[4]
From 2017 to 2018, Whitty was also interimGovernment Chief Scientific Adviser and head of the science and engineering profession in government.[4] During this periodNovichok, the military nerve agent, was responsible for the2018 Salisbury poisonings, and Whitty chaired the government SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group in Emergencies) and advised COBR for the crisis.[4][5]
Whitty was appointed Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England in 2019.[4]
Whitty and two of his deputies,Jenny Harries andJonathan Van-Tam, took high-profile roles during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[19][20] This included appearing – often with prime ministerBoris Johnson andChief Scientific Adviser SirPatrick Vallance – in televised news conferences, and giving evidence to parliamentary bodies.[5][21] From 19 March 2020, Whitty appeared inpublic information adverts on national television, explaining the government'ssocial-distancing strategy to reduce the spread of the virus during the pandemic.[21][22]
On 27 March, Whitty was reported to be self-isolating owing to symptoms consistent withCOVID-19 afterBoris Johnson andHealth SecretaryMatt Hancock had tested positive for the virus.[23] On 6 April, he had reportedly returned to work having recovered from the symptoms of the virus.[24] In July, he told the LordsScience and Technology Committee that elimination of the disease in the UK would be very difficult, a view that was contested by other scientists including members of theIndependent SAGE group.[25]
At a televised briefing on 12 October where the Prime Minister introducedthree tiers of localised restrictions, Whitty said he was "not confident" that the measures in the highest tier would be "enough to get on top of it".[26][27] Whitty and Vallance presented updated data and forecasts at a televised briefing on 31 October, where the Prime Minister announced stricter measures for the whole of England.[28]
During the outbreak,BBC health editorHugh Pym called him "the official who will probably have the greatest impact on our everyday lives of any individual policymaker in modern times".[21]The Guardian's sketch writer,John Crace, described him as "the Geek-in-Chief, whom everyone now regards as the country's de facto prime minister". At the same time, he was compared toJames Niven, the Scottish physician known for reducing the death rate of influenza during the1918 flu pandemic inManchester.[29]
During the Christmas weekend of 2020, Whitty was spotted treating coronavirus patients in London. It was said he "worked the shifts in his capacity as a practising doctor [as] a consultant physician at University College London Hospitals Trust... on the north London hospital's respiratory ward over the weekend and bank holiday Monday".[30]
On 26 June 2021 a group ofCOVID-19 protesters demonstrated outside what appeared to be Whitty's flat in central London.[31] Earlier in the month Whitty was followed down a street by a prominent anti-vaccine activist who shouted at him for being a liar, and in February he was called a liar multiple times while waiting for a takeaway lunch at a street food stall.[32]
On 27 June, Whitty was the subject of manhandling, described by Johnson as "despicable harassment", by Lewis Hughes and Jonathan Chew inSt James's Park,Westminster, who filmed the event for social media.[33] The Health Secretary,Sajid Javid, said such behaviour would not be tolerated and that those responsible "should be ashamed". The Vaccines Minister,Nadhim Zahawi, said they were "thugs" and should face charges. Hughes subsequently pleaded guilty to a charge of beating and was given an eight-week suspended custodial sentence.[34] He had previously apologised for any "upset" caused and had lost his job as anestate agent over the incident.[35] In January 2022 Chew, who had initially pleaded not guilty, changed his plea and was given an eight-week custodial sentence.[36]
Whitty was appointedCompanion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the2015 New Year Honours for public and voluntary service to Tropical Medicine in the UK and Africa.[37] He is a fellow of theAcademy of Medical Sciences.[13]
He gave the 2014Milroy Lecture at the Royal College of Physicians,[38] and the 2017Harveian Oration at the same institution.[5]
In September 2021, Whitty was awarded an honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Plymouth in recognition of his support for the university's medical science research community.[39] He also holds an honorary degree from theUniversity of York.[40]
Whitty was appointedKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the2022 New Year Honours for services to public health.[41][42][43] He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 2023.[44] In 2023 he was awarded theRoyal Medal of the Royal Society.[45]
He was appointed Honorary Colonel 144 Medical Squadron Army Reserve on 1 December 2024.[46]
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Government Chief Scientific Adviser Acting 2017–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Medical Officer for England 2019–present | Incumbent |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
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