Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert DBE FRS FMedSci

Professor Sarah Gilbert is Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford and is one of the UK’s foremost academic vaccinologists.

In January 2020, Professor Gilbert adapted the ChAdOx1 vector to express the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as novel vaccine to deploy in the COVID-19 pandemic. Animal studies in March showed the vaccine was safe and protective against virus in the lungs. Her team have been responsible for clinical trials in the UK, South Africa and Brazil and on the 30th April 2020, AstraZeneca agreed to undertake global manufacture and distribution of her COVID-19 vaccine, which is a leading candidate worldwide.