Adrian Vivian Sinton Hill, (born 9 October 1958) is an Irish vaccinologist, Director of the Jenner Institute and Lakshmi Mittal and Family Professor of Vaccinology at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, an honorary Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases, and

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

. Hill is a leader in the field of malaria vaccine development and was a co-leader of the research team which produced the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, along with Professor

Sarah Gilbert Dame Sarah Catherine Gilbert (born April 1962) is an English vaccinologist who is a Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford and co-founder of Vaccitech. She specialises in the development of vaccines against influenza and emergi ...

of the Jenner Institute and Professor Andrew Pollard of the

Oxford Vaccine Group The Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) is a vaccine research group within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1994 by Professor E. Richard Moxon, was initially based at the John Radcliffe Hospital, and moved in ...

Early life and education

Hill was educated at

Belvedere College Belvedere College S.J. (sometimes St Francis Xavier's College) is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business. History Belvedere owes its origin ...

in Dublin. He began reading medicine at Trinity College Dublin, where he was elected a Foundation Scholar in 1978. Thereupon he transferred to

for one year, but he ended up remaining in Oxford to complete the rest of his medical degree, qualifying in 1982. He remained at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

for postgraduate studies and was awarded a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

degree in 1986 for research on the molecular genetics of

thalassemia Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders characterized by decreased hemoglobin production. Symptoms depend on the type and can vary from none to severe. Often there is mild to severe anemia (low red blood cells or hemoglobin). Anemia can result ...

supervised by .

Career and research

During his time at the

Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics Wellcome () is a supermarket chain owned by British conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings via its DFI Retail Group subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being Parkn ...

his research group studied genetic susceptibility to infections such as

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, and

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

. From 1997 he has developed candidate vaccines for malaria which produce cellular (

T-cell A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell rec ...

) immunity and partial efficacy using

Adenovirus Adenoviruses (members of the family ''Adenoviridae'') are medium-sized (90–100 nm), nonenveloped (without an outer lipid bilayer) viruses with an icosahedral nucleocapsid containing a double-stranded DNA genome. Their name derives from the ...

and Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) viral vector vaccines in a prime-boost regime. From 2005 he has played a leading role in the pre-clinical and clinical assessment of new chimpanzee adenoviral vaccine vectors, particularly ChAd63, ChAd3 and ChAdOx1. His group has developed numerous candidate vaccines against malaria which have been tested in

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

s in the UK and Africa. In 2021 his group reported high efficacy of a new R21/matrix-M candidate vaccine in Burkina Faso children and this vaccine is now in a phase III licensure trial. In 2014, he led a clinical trial of an

Ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becom ...

vaccine based on chimpanzee adenoviral and MVA vector technology in response to the West African Ebola virus epidemic. In 2016 he co-founded Vaccitech plc, an Oxford University spin-off company developing therapeutic and preventive vaccines based on viral vector technology. In 2017 he led a successful major award application to Innovate UK to co-found the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) in Harwell, Oxfordshire, one of the first purpose-built vaccine manufacturing centres for emergency response vaccines. In response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic he worked with many others at Oxford to develop and partner the ChAdOx1 vector-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, notably with AstraZeneca and the Serum Institute of India, supporting large scale access for low and middle income countries.

Honours and awards

* 1999 Elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) * 1999 Elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) * 2005 Appointed to a Fellowship by Special Election at Magdalen College, Oxford * 2005 Founded the Jenner Institute at Oxford University and appointed institute Director * 2008 Elected an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin (Hon. FTCD) * 2020 Appointed to an ad hominen Lakshmi Mittal and Family Professorship of Vaccinology at Oxford University * 2021 Elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

* 2021 Appointed an Honorary Knight Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(KBE) in the

2021 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

Personal life

Hill has two children with his former wife, the epidemiologist

Sunetra Gupta Sunetra Gupta (born 15 March 1965) is an Indian-born British infectious disease epidemiologist and a professor of theoretical epidemiology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. She has performed research on the transmission dynamic ...

. In 2021 he married Sabina Murray.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Adrian 20th-century British medical doctors 21st-century British medical doctors 1958 births Living people People educated at Belvedere College Scholars of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Academics of the University of Oxford Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of the Royal Society Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Place of birth missing (living people) NIHR Senior Investigators Vaccinologists