Sir Jonathan Stafford Nguyen-Van-Tam (born 2 February 1964) is a British healthcare professional specialising in influenza, including its

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

, transmission,

vaccinology A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.

, antiviral drugs and pandemic preparedness. After hospital work, he was involved variously as a university lecturer and within the pharmaceutical industry. Van-Tam became a

Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England In the United Kingdom, a Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is the most senior government advisor on matter relating to health. There are four CMOs in the United Kingdom who are appointed to advise their respective governments: * His Majesty's Governm ...

on 2 October 2017. He played a very significant part in the UK's response to the covid pandemic which started in 2020 as one of two deputies. He was due to step down at the end of March 2022 to take up an academic role.

Early life

Van-Tam was born and grew up in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. He is partially of

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

descent. He attended Boston Grammar School where his father, Paul Nguyen Van-Tam, was a teacher of Mathematics. He graduated in medicine from the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

in 1987. He was awarded bachelor's degrees in

Medical Sciences Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

in 1985 and a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (BM BS) in 1987. He was awarded a Doctorate of Medicine (DM) in 2001 supported by a thesis on epidemiology.

Career

After five years of hospital-based clinical medicine, Van-Tam pursued academic training in public health and epidemiology and developed an interest in influenza and respiratory viruses, mentored for many years by Professor Karl Nicholson. He became a senior lecturer at the University of Nottingham (and consultant regional epidemiologist,

Public Health Laboratory Public health laboratories (PHLs) are governmental reference laboratories that protect the public against diseases and other health hazards. The 2005 International Health Regulations came into force in June 2007, with 196 binding countries that r ...

Service) in 1997, before joining the pharmaceutical industry as an associate director at

SmithKline Beecham GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the tent ...

in 2000. In April 2001 he moved to

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX ...

as head of medical affairs, before joining Aventis Pasteur MSD in February 2002 as UK medical director. Van-Tam returned to the public sector in 2004 at the

Health Protection Agency The Health Protection Agency (HPA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It was an organisation that was set up by the UK government in 2003 to protect the public from threats to their health from infectious diseases and envi ...

Centre for Infections, where he was head of the pandemic influenza office until October 2007. He then returned to Nottingham as professor of health protection. He has published over 100 scientific papers and written four textbooks. He chaired the

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is an agency of the European Union (EU) whose mission is to strengthen Europe's defences against infectious diseases. It covers a wide spectrum of activities, such as: surveillance, ...

(ECDC) Expert Advisory Group on

H5N1 Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 (A/H5N1) is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species. A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type ...

human vaccines, sits on the UK national Scientific Pandemic Influenza Committee (SPI), and was a member of the UK

Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is a British Government body that advises central government in emergencies. It is usually chaired by the United Kingdom's Chief Scientific Adviser, currently Sir Patrick Vallance. Speciali ...

(SAGE) during the 2009-10 pandemic. He is co-editor of the textbook ''Introduction to Pandemic Influenza'' and was editor-in-chief of the journal ''Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses'' from 2014 to 2017. His unit is an officially designated WHO Collaborating Centre for pandemic influenza and research and a UK Faculty of Public Health "National Treasure" research training location. Since 2014, he has been chair of the UK government's

New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) is an advisory body that advises the United Kingdom Government's Chief Medical Advisor / Chief Medical Officer for England, who in turn advises the UK Department of Health and ...

(NERVTAG). On 2 October 2017, he took up the role of deputy chief medical officer for England. In this capacity, he gained nationwide visibility during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, he was appointed to the expert advisory group for the UK Government's Vaccine Taskforce, chaired by

Patrick Vallance Sir Patrick John Thompson Vallance (born 17 March 1960) is a British physician, scientist, and clinical pharmacologist who has worked in both academia and industry. He has served as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of the United ...

. It was announced in January 2022 that Van-Tam would step down from the role of deputy chief medical officer for England at the end of March 2022. His new academic post as Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Medicine & Health Sciences at the

was due to start on 1 May 2022.

Awards and honours

Van-Tam was appointed

Member 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 o ...

(MBE) in the

1998 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1998 for the United Kingdom, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis were announced on 30 December 1 ...

as an acting major in the Lincolnshire

Army Cadet Force The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence and the British Army. Along with the Sea Cadet Corps and the Air Training Corps, the ACF mak ...

. It was awarded in recognition of his work in designing a medical kit to meet the special requirements of large groups of teenagers on camping expeditions. This sprang from his work with the Lincolnshire Army Cadets since 1988. His ideas were accepted by the Ministry of Defence. His other qualifications include Fellowships of the Faculty of Public Health ( FFPH), the Royal College of Pathologists (

FRCPath The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) is a professional membership organisation. Its main function is the overseeing of postgraduate training, and its Fellowship Examination (FRCPath) is recognised as the standard assessment of fitness to pr ...

) and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine Hon ( FFPM). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health ( FRSPH), of the Royal Society of Biology ( FRSB) and the Academy of Medical Sciences ( FMedSci). He delivered the

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sc ...

in 2021. In 2021, the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

invited Van-Tam to hold the

Harveian Oration The Harveian Oration is a yearly lecture held at the Royal College of Physicians of London. It was instituted in 1656 by William Harvey, discoverer of the systemic circulation. Harvey made financial provision for the college to hold an annual feas ...

, the most prestigious lecture of the learned society. On 1 December 2021 he was announced as one of the Boston Heroes along with 9 other residents of Boston out of 240 put forward by the people of his home town. In March 2022 he was awarded the

Freedom of the Borough The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

in appreciation for his work on the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Van-Tam was knighted in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to public health. He was unable to attend his scheduled investiture ceremony at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

on 17 May 2022 due to self-isolating, having contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. He was invested by the

Duke of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge, one of several current royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom , is a hereditary title of specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. The title (named after the city of Cambridge in England) is heritable by male de ...

at Buckingham Palace on 7 July 2022.

Army Cadet Force (ACF)

In October 2022, Van-Tam was promoted to Honorary Colonel for Medical Support, in the

(ACF). Van-Tam has many years of experience working with the ACF.

Personal life

Van-Tam's grandfather was

Nguyễn Văn Tâm Nguyễn Văn Tâm (16 October 1895 – 23 November 1990) served as Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam, a political entity created by the French in an attempt to regain control of the country. He held that office from June 1952 to Decembe ...

, nicknamed the Tiger of Cai Lậy, the Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam. His uncle,

Nguyễn Văn Hinh Nguyễn Văn Hinh (20 September 1915 – 26 June 2004) was the chief of staff of the Vietnamese National Army and the first Vietnamese officer in the French Armed Forces to be promoted to the rank of general. Educated in the French style, he s ...

, was chief of staff of the

Vietnamese National Army The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army ( vi, Quân đội Quốc gia Việt Nam, lit=Army of the State of Vietnam, french: Armée Nationale Vietnamienne, lit=Vietnamese National Army) was the State of Vietnam's military force create ...

and the first Vietnamese officer in the French Armed Forces to be promoted to the rank of general. Van-Tam is a supporter and season ticket holder at Boston United F.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van-Tam, Jonathan 1964 births Alumni of the University of Nottingham People from Boston, Lincolnshire People educated at Boston Grammar School Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Army Cadet Force officers British epidemiologists 20th-century English medical doctors 21st-century English medical doctors Civil servants in the Ministry of Health (United Kingdom) English people of Vietnamese descent Knights Bachelor