Professor Thomas Kirkwood is Professor of Medicine and Head of the Department of Gerontology at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. He is a mathematical biologist who has played a leading role in research into ageing since the mid 1970’s when he advanced the “disposable soma” theory of ageing. He has used Burke’s Peerage and Debrett to demonstrate in British aristocratic families, over many centuries, that human life histories involve a trade-off between longevity and reproduction. He was the BBC Reith Lecturer for 2001.
Fellow
Back to directory listingProfessor Thomas Kirkwood CBE FMedSci FRCP Edin
Job Title
Emeritus Professor
Department
Newcastle University Institute for Ageing
Institution
Newcastle University
Year elected
2001
Interests
Specialitiesgerontological medicine, biological mechanisms of ageing, genetics and evolution of ageing and longevity
Section committee elected byCellular and developmental biology, microbiology and immunology, genetics