Professor Sir John Iredale BM (Hons), DM, FRCP (Lond), FRCP (Ed), FMedSci, FRSE, MAE

Chairman

John took on the role of Chairman of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in 2022. He currently holds the Chair of Experimental Medicine at the University of Bristol. From Jan 2022-Oct 2023 he was seconded to UKRI where he acted as the interim Executive Chair of the MRC, prior to this he was Pro Vice-Chancellor for Health and Life Sciences in Bristol. His research interests are focused on tissue scarring and regeneration and he has published extensively on these subjects. Professor Sir Iredale was, in the past, the Regius Chair of Medical Science, Dean of Clinical Medicine and Vice Principal Health Services at the University of Edinburgh where he led the Medical School.

Mr Murray Legg BSc, FCA

Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee

Murray joined the Lister Institute formally in September 2020 as Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee. He is a chartered accountant who spent 35 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers until retiring in 2013. As a partner with PwC he held a variety of senior management, governance and client facing roles auditing and advising large UK listed and unlisted companies. He was a member of the PwC international network’s Global Governance Board, and he also served on the PwC UK firm’s governance body. Murray is non-executive chairman of GlobalData plc and previously chaired its audit committee. Until October 2024 he was a non-executive director and audit committee chair of SES Water.

Professor Anne Rosser PhD, FRCP

Chair of the Scientific Committee

Anne took on the role of Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Lister Institute in September 2025. Anne is Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at Cardiff University and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the University Hospital of Wales. She undertook her medical training and PhD at Cambridge University and completed specialist training at the National Hospital for Neurology in London and Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge. She moved to Cardiff in 2001, where she directs the Cardiff University Brain Repair Group and co-directs the Wales B.R.A.I.N. Unit, which aims to deliver therapeutics into the brain in neurological conditions. She has a special interest in regenerative medicine, especially with respect to the neurodegenerative condition Huntington’s disease, and she is current chair of the European Huntington’s disease Network.

Professor Julian Blow PhD, FRSE

Julian is Professor of Chromosome Maintenance and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Innovation at the University of East Anglia. Julian’s research interests centre on how eukaryotic DNA replication is regulated to ensure that the genome is precisely duplicated with the minimum of errors, with no sections of DNA left unreplicated and with no sections of DNA replicated more than once. Julian is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a member of EMBO.

Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald OBE, MACantab, MD, FMedSci

Rebecca is Professor of Cancer Prevention at the MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge and co-leads the CRUK Cambridge Centre Early Detection Programme. Her research on the Cytosponge and related assays for Barrett’s oesophagus has received several National prizes including the Westminster Medal. Rebecca is a Fellow at Trinity College Cambridge and still practices medicine as Hon Consultant in Gastroenterology at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

The Hon Rory Guinness BA, MSc, FCIM

Representative of Lord Iveagh

Rory currently chairman of the Iveagh Trust and has a background in investment management at senior level. He wrote “The World of Guinness” and regularly speaks on matters to do with the history of the family, the brewery and philanthropy. He also sits on the Boards of St Patrick’s Cathedral, The European Movement Ireland and Rory Guinness Experiences, which provides visitors to the British Isles with unique experiences.

Professor Muzlifah Haniffa FMedSci

Muzlifah is a Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Professor of Dermatology and Immunology in Newcastle University and Associate Faculty, Cellular Genetics, Wellcome Sanger Institute. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and recipient of the Academy of Medical Sciences Foulkes Foundation Medal and the European Federation of Immunological Societies ACTERIA Prize in Immunology and Allergology. Muzlifah is a leading member of the Human Cell Atlas initiative and pioneered the application of single cell genomics to decode the developing human immune system, and the human skin in health and disease.

Professor Douglas Higgs MBBS, MRCP, MRCPath, DSc, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci, FRS, Member of EMBO

Douglas qualified in Medicine at King’s College Hospital and trained as a haematologist. He is Emeritus Professor of Haematology at the University of Oxford. His laboratory studies how genes are regulated during differentiation and development and how this is perturbed in human genetic disease.

Professor Jane Hillston MBE, FRS, FRSE

Jane is Professor of Quantitative Modelling in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Her work on developing novel modelling and analysis of dynamic systems and processes has attracted a number of prizes including the RSE Kelvin Medal and the British Computer Society Lovelace Medal. Her modelling approaches have been used in a range of applications including biomedical systems. She is also a Trustee of the Alan Turing Institute.

Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys CH, DPhil, FMedSci, FRS

Alec is a former Lister Fellow and currently Emeritus Professor of Genetics at the University of Leicester. He is best known for his pioneering work on variation, mutation and recombination in the human genome, and in particular for developing genetic fingerprinting and demonstrating how DNA could transform forensic and legal medicine.

Mr Stephen McMahon MA (Oxon), FCA, FCSI

Stephen is a Director of ARC Group and is responsible for the company’s Jersey office. After reading Economics & Management at Oxford University, Stephen qualified as an accountant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers in London before joining the Bank of England, where he reviewed operations in the Economic and Financial Markets divisions of the central bank. Stephen is a Chartered Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) and the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI).

Professor Dame Pamela Shaw DBE MBBS MD FRCP FMEDSCI FAAN FANA FAAAS

Pamela is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Sheffield and Director of: the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN); the NIHR Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre for Translational Neuroscience; the Sheffield Care and Research Centre for Motor Neuron Disorders and the cross-faculty Sheffield Neuroscience Institute. She is a Clinician Scientist in Neurology, formerly a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow and currently an NIHR Senior Investigator. Her team investigates genetic, molecular and neurochemical mechanisms underlying ALS/MND; identifies new therapeutic targets and translates new neuroprotective and symptomatic treatment approaches into the clinic.

Mrs Jennifer Smithson BA

Jennifer has been a partner in the Private Client department at Macfarlanes, the Institute’s lawyers, since 2014, having qualified as a solicitor in 2005. She read Law with Law Studies in Europe at Oxford University, spending one year at Paris Assas. Jennifer specialises in advising on cross border estate and wealth planning. Prior to becoming a solicitor, Jennifer spent six years working in authorial rights and TV and film distribution.

Professor Rosalind Smyth CBE, FMedSci

Rosalind is Professor of Child Health at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. She was Director of this Institute from 2012-22 and is currently Vice-Dean (Research) in the UCL Faculty of Population Health Sciences. She was awarded CBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in 2015 for services to the regulation of medicines for children.