Professor Patrick Francis Chinnery, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci, is a neurologist, clinician scientist, and

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

Principal Research Fellow based in the Medical Research Council Mitochondrial Biology Unit and the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, where he is also Professor of Neurology and Head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences. In 2023 he was appointe
Executive Chair of the Medical Research Council
Other national roles include being co-chair of the National Institute for Health Research BioResource for Translational Research in Chronic and Rare Diseases.

Early life and education

Chinnery attended Medical School at Newcastle University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science degree in 1989 with first class honours; and Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery with honours in 1992. He went on to complete his PhD in mitochondrial genetics in 2000 whilst training in clinical neurology and neurogenetics.

Medical career and research

Chinnery trained as a physician and neurologist in the north east of England, becoming a member of 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 ...

in 1995, and completing his specialist clinical training in

neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

2002 when he was appointed Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He specializes in inherited disorders of the nervous system (neurogenetics) and established the north of England regional

neurogenetics Neurogenetics studies the role of genetics in the development and function of the nervous system. It considers neural characteristics as phenotypes (i.e. manifestations, measurable or not, of the genetic make-up of an individual), and is mainly bas ...

service between 2002 and 2015. In 2015 he moved to the University of Cambridge as Professor of Neurology and Head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences within the School of Clinical Medicine. He practices as a neurologist at

Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Camp ...

. He became a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College in 2017 where he is Director of Studies in Clinical Medicine. His research focuses on understanding the role of mitochondria in human disease. He has identified the genetic basis of several new diseases caused by genetic mutations affecting the genetic code within mitochondria (mtDNA) and the nuclear genome which code for mitochondrial proteins. In the first genetic epidemiology study he showed that mtDNA diseases were much more common than expected. People with mtDNA diseases often harbour a mixture of normal and abnormal mtDNA (heteroplasmy). His group showed that most healthy people also carry heteroplasmic mtDNA mutations, but at very low levels. They showed that a dramatic reduction in mtDNA levels within female germ cells during embryonic development leads to major shifts in heteroplasmy levels over one generation (the mitochondrial genetic bottleneck). The bottleneck explains how low level heteroplasmy in carriers can lead to mitochondrial diseases within one generation, and the different severity of mtDNA disease seen in siblings within the same family. Carrying out the first large-scale study in the UK 100,000 genomes project, he showed that the nuclear genetic background also influences the inheritance pattern of mtDNA mutations. He also showed that genetic variation of mtDNA influences the risk of developing common diseases and many human physiological traits, including kidney and liver function. Throughout his career Chinnery harnessed genetics and genomics to deliver a fast, comprehensive diagnosis for families, and led the pivotal multi-national clinical trial delivering the first licensed treatment for mitochondrial disease He has been supported by Wellcome Trust research fellowships since 1995, most recently as a Wellcome Principal Research Fellow. Additional research support has come from the Medical Research Council / UK Research and Innovation, and the National Institute for Health Research.

Leadership

Chinnery was Director of the

National Institute for Health Research The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "impr ...

(NIHR) Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre from 2008 to 2015, leading a doubling of funding. Since 2012 he has been co-chair of the NIHR Rare Diseases Translational Research Collaboration, then the NIHR BioResource with John Bradley. In 2010 he was appointed Director of the Institute of

Genetic Medicine Medical genetics is the branch tics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the caus ...

at Newcastle University. In 2015 he moved to the University of Cambridge as Professor of Neurology and Head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences. In 2018 he became Clinical Director of the Medical Research Council within UK Research and Innovation, where is he was responsible for clinical translational research programmes. He has advised to two UK Government Chief Medical Advisors, and ministers and Secretaries of State within the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy. In 2020 he was appointed National Core Study Lead for

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 ...

therapeutics by the UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor Sir

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 ...

. In 2020 he was asked by UK Government Chief Medical Advisor Professor

Chris Whitty Sir Christopher John MacRae Whitty (born 21 April 1966) is a British epidemiologist serving as Chief Medical Officer for England (CMO) and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government since 2019. He has also been Gresham Professor of Physic si ...

to established and chair the UK COVID-19 Therapeutics Advisory Panel (UK-CTAP) which recommended drugs into the UK national clinical trial platforms.

Awards and honors

Chinnery was awarded several prizes as a training neurologist and researcher, twice being awarded the Charles Symonds Prize by the

Association of British Neurologists The Association of British Neurologists is a professional organisation founded in 1932 and expanded to include overseas membership in 1937. The Association produces guidelines for the treatment of neurological conditions. Members At 31 December ...

(1997, 2002). In 2009 he was the youngest elected member of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

, who awarded him the Foulkes Foundation Medal in 2011. He has been a Fellow of the

since 2006, and a Fellow of the

Royal College of Pathologists 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 ...

since 2007. In 2010 he became a NIHR Senior Investigator (now emeritus), and is a corresponding member of the

American Neurological Association The American Neurological Association (ANA) is a professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists devoted to advancing the goals of academic neurology; to training and educating neurologists and other physicians in the neurologic ...

. In 2022 he was awarded the Galen Medal by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

in 2024.

Personal life

Married to Rachel Chinnery (m.1991) with 4 children: 3 daughters and one son. He also has 1 Labrador named Ralph.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinnery, Patrick British neurologists Professors of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Newcastle University Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Royal Society NIHR Senior Investigators Medical doctors from Leeds 1968 births Living people