Master of Trinity College, Cambridge
Dame Sally Davies was appointed as the UK Government’s Special Envoy on AMR in 2019. She is also the 40th Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University. She joined the College after a distinguished career as a clinical academic and public servant.
Dame Sally graduated from Manchester Medical School in 1972 and became a Consultant Haematologist specialising in sickle cell disease. In 1997 she was appointed as Honorary Professor of Haemoglobinopathies at Imperial College.
Dame Sally was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health from 2004-2016. In 2006 she founded the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and was the Inaugural Director. In 2013 she established and became a Non-Executive Director of Genomics England Ltd (GEL) which sequenced 100,000 whole genomes of NHS patients.
Dame Sally was the Chief Medical Officer for England and Senior Medical Advisor to the UK Government from 2011-2019. She authorised 11 independent annual reports and 3 special reports: Medical Cannabis, Screen Times for Children and Obesity in Childhood.
She has become a leading figure in global health including serving as a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board 2014-2016 and as co-convener of the United Nations Inter-Agency Co-ordination Group (IACG) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) reporting in 2019.
She has championed the need to address AMR across all sections: human and animal health, agriculture and environment within the UN family and globally.
In the 2020 New Year Honours, Dame Sally became the second woman (and the first outside the Royal family) to be appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) for services to public health and research having received her DBE in 2009. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014 and a member of the National Academy of Medicine, USA in 2015. She has been awarded more than 30 honorary doctorate degrees.
Research: areas of interest
Antimicrobial resistance, Sickle Cell disease
Publications
Dame Sally Davies has led the development of multiple reports in her work as Chief Medical Officer, including the following:
2019 Partnering for progress – a review of the UKs role in Global Health with recommendations for the next spending review
2018 Better health within reach – reviewing how health could be in 2040 and the choices that need making. The Composite Health Index proposal, to sit by GDP has now been commissioned from ONS by the Cabinet Secretary
2017 Health impacts of all pollution – includes advising on directions for Health in the Clean Air Strategy
2016 Generation genome – exploring the promise of genomics, our UK lead in integrating Whole Genome Sequencing into the NHS and initiating the Ministerial chaired National Genomics Committee
2015 The baby boomer generation – bringing new data together about this large population grouping
2014 Women’s health – exploring under-discussed areas including highlighting the issues of menopause for women generally and their employment
2013 Public mental health – bringing the interaction of mental ill health and work to the fore, exploring violence in the home and critiquing the use of non-scientific measures for “wellbeing”
2012 The public’s health – as in 2011, data sets not previously brought together
2012 Children and young people’s health – making the scientific and economic case for investing in children and young people, as prevention, education and lifting out of poverty will dramatically change their lives and all our futures.
2011 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – reporting on infection and demonstrating the need for action on AMR nationally and globally. Leading to AMR becoming a Cross- Government priority and it’s placing on the HMG Risk Register
2010 The public’s health – ensuring data sets by Local Authorities were transparently and readily available to all, including placing many data in the public domain
Dame Sally has over 200 publications, including 50 original peer reviewed manuscripts in haematology relating to sickle cell disease, 18 chapters with reviews, editorials, etc. In addition, she has a number of publications in areas of AMR, public health and global health, research strategy and issues relating to “academic medicine”.
In 2013, she published a book on AMR: The Drugs Don’t work: A Global Threat.