Our Fellow, Professor Peter Kennedy CBE FRSE FMedSci, has won the International Society for NeuroVirology (ISNV) Pioneer in NeuroVirology Award 2018, in recognition of his outstanding individual achievement in the field.
Professor Kennedy is currently an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation. He held the University’s Burton Chair of Neurology for 29 years (1987-2016), alongside working as a consultant neurologist with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Starting his research career working with Professor Martin Raff at UCL on neurobiology and the immunopathology of multiple sclerosis, Professor Kennedy’s work has focused primarily on viral infections of the nervous system, including the herpes simplex virus, Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV) and Human African trypanosomiasis. He demonstrated that all the major human neural cell types could be identified using cell-type-specific markers, and demonstrated the existence of a key human neural progenitor cell, findings which proved vital in understanding how the central nervous system responds to viral infections. His ongoing involvement with VZV research builds on his seminal studies in the area, including demonstrating latent VZV in human neurons and discovering a novel effect of VZV from post-herpetic neuralgia patients on sodium channels. Professor Kennedy has received several previous research awards, including the Sir James Black Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, its senior prize in the Life Sciences. He was awarded a CBE in 2010 for “services to clinical science”.
A founder Fellow of the Academy, Professor Kennedy is the first UK researcher to receive ISNV’s Pioneer Award, the highest honour for research that the organisation can bestow. He said: “I was frankly surprised and very honoured to receive this award, particularly given that past recipients include some legendary figures in science.”
Professor Kennedy continues to work at the University of Glasgow on the neglected tropical disease Human African trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness. Thanks to worldwide efforts over the last ten years, the number of new cases per year has recently dropped below 10,000 for the first time in decades, but an estimated 60 million people across 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa remain at risk and the disease, which is usually fatal if untreated, still kills many people every year. With colleagues at the University of Glasgow’s School of Veterinary Medicine, Professor Kennedy is continuing his longstanding collaborations with researchers in Europe and Africa to work towards the disease’s eventual elimination as a public health problem.
The Pioneer Award was presented at an Awards Banquet on 13 April 2018 at the 15th ISNV International Symposium in Chicago, USA.
For more information, please visit the International Society for NeuroVirology website.