Hugh Pennington

Thomas Hugh Pennington, CBE, FRCPath, FRCP (Edin), FMedSci, FRSE (born 19 April 1938) is emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Outside academia, he is best known as the chair of the Pennington Group enquiry into the Scottish ''Escherichia coli'' outbreak of 1996 and as Chairman of the Public Inquiry into the 2005 Outbreak of ''E. coli'' O157 in South Wales.

Early life

Pennington was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School in Lancashire, England. Pennington obtained his MBBS degree in 1962, and his PhD in 1967, both from St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, which became part of United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals in 1982, and has been known as King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry since 2005.

Academic career

He spent a year at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before moving to the Glasgow Institute of Virology in 1969, where he researched vaccinia, smallpox and other viruses. He was appointed Chair of Bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen in 1979, where he remained until his retirement in 2003. His research focused on improved bacteria typing, or "fingerprinting", methods, and led to new methods for the investigation of virulence and antibiotic resistance in a number of important pathogens including ''Staphylococcus aureus'', ''Haemophilus influenzae'', ''Neisseria meningitidis'', and ''Escherichia coli'' O157:H7. He also wrote on the history of science and medicine such as the introduction of antiseptic surgery to Aberdeen by Alexander Ogston using a Lister 'steam spray producer'.
He was dean of the medical school between 1987 and 1992. Pennington was also awarded a higher doctorate, i.e. DSc.

He retired in 2003 after being a professor of bacteriology for 23 years at the University of Aberdeen.

From 2003-6 he was President of the Society for General Microbiology. He is a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.

Pennington Group enquiry

In late November 1996, an ''Escherichia coli'' outbreak in the town of Wishaw prompted the Scottish Office to establish an expert group, chaired by Pennington. The Pennington Group convened between December 1996 and March 1997. Another case of ''E. coli'' infection occurred in Tayside in January 1997 and the group was tasked with investigating the additional outbreak.

Subsequent public work

Following his chairmanship of the ''E. coli'' enquiry, Pennington has worked for the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments as an expert on microbiology and food safety, and has also appeared in British media as an expert. He was a member of the Scottish Food Advisory Committee, part of the Food Standards Agency, an agency he recommended the government create. He was a founder member of the World Food Programme Technical Advisory Group. He is the former Vice Chair of the Broadcasting Council for Scotland, which advises the BBC
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