Sir John Irving Bell (born 1 July 1952) is a Canadian-British immunologist and

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processe ...

. From 2006 to 2011, he was President of the United Kingdom's

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 ...

, and since 2002 he has held the Regius Chair of Medicine 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 ...

. He was since 2006 Chairman of the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR) but in 2020 became a normal member.Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR)

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

, consulted 12 September 2020. Bell was selected to the Vaccine Taskforce sometime before 1 July 2020. Bell is also on the board of directors of the SOE

quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where NG ...

Genomics England Genomics England is a British company set up and owned by the United Kingdom Department of Health and Social Care to run the 100,000 Genomes Project. The project aimed in 2014 to sequence 100,000 genomes from NHS patients with a rare disease an ...

Education and career

Bell was born in

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

, where his parents worked in

haematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

and

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

. He attended

Ridley College Ridley College (also known as RC, Ridley) is a private boarding and day university-preparatory school located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 20 miles (32 km) from Niagara Falls. The school confers the Ontario Secondary School Diploma ...

in St. Catharines, Ontario. He graduated from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

in 1975, and then studied medicine on a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

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 ...

. In 1978 he rowed in the

Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club (OULRC) is the university rowing club for lightweight men at the University of Oxford which selects crews to race against Cambridge University Boat Club in the Lightweight Boat Races at the end of H ...

Blue Boat which raced against Cambridge University. In 1982, he took up a position as Clinical Fellow in Immunology with Hugh McDevitt at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, where he worked on histocompatibility antigens and

autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a functioning body part. At least 80 types of autoimmune diseases have been identified, with some evidence suggesting that there may be more than 100 types. Nearly a ...

.Professor John Bell, PMedSci – A Biographical Note
21 December 2008)The Oxford Health Alliance: Sir John Bell
(accessed 21 December 2008) In 1987, Bell returned to Oxford as a

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 ...

Senior Clinical Fellow, and joined the Institute of Molecular Medicine, founded by

David Weatherall Sir David John Weatherall, (9 March 1933 – 8 December 2018) was a British physician and researcher in molecular genetics, haematology, pathology and clinical medicine. Early life and education David Weatherall was born in Liverpool.Geoff Wa ...

. In 1992 he succeeded Weatherall as the

Nuffield Professor of Clinical Medicine The Nuffield Professorship of Clinical Medicine is a chair at the University of Oxford. Created by the endowment of William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, it was established in 1937. The chair is associated with a fellowship of Magdalen College, Oxf ...

and, in 2002, became the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, also after Weatherall. In 1994, Bell was one of the founders of 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 ...

at Oxford University. He is an emeritus fellow of

. Bell is also the senior member of the

Oxford University Women's Boat Club Oxford University Women's Boat Club (OUWBC) is the rowing club for female rowers (and coxes of either sex) who are students at the University of Oxford. The club was founded in 1926 and is now based in Wallingford at the Fleming Boat Hous ...

Executive Committee and is a member of the Governing Body of

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. He sat on the Council of the Medical Research Council between 1998 and 2003. Since 2011, Bell has been one of two Life Sciences Champions for the UK.

Directorships, consulting and charity positions

Bell has been a non-executive director of

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 S ...

since 2001. A ''

BMJ ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origina ...

'' campaign to make the results of unpublished studies on the anti-

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

drug

oseltamivir Oseltamivir, sold under the brand name Tamiflu, is an antiviral medication used to treat and prevent influenza A and influenza B, viruses that cause the flu. Many medical organizations recommend it in people who have complications or are at hig ...

(Tamiflu) available to researchers led to the journal's editor

Fiona Godlee Fiona Godlee (born August 4, 1961) was editor in chief of ''The British Medical Journal'' from March 2005 until 31 December 2021; she was the first female editor appointed in the journal's history. She was also editorial director of the other jou ...

urging Bell "as an internationally respected scientist and clinician and a leader of clinical research in the United Kingdom, to bring your influence to bear on your colleagues on Roche's board." Roche subsequently agreed to a wide policy of data transparency in clinical trials. Matthew Thompson and Carl Heneghan wrote in a letter to the journal "...according to Roche's 2011 financial report, John Bell received 390 000 Swiss Francs (£260 450; €322 450; $420 000) last year for his role on the board of directors. What do Roche and its shareholders expect for this level of involvement and remuneration?" The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report on the subject broadly supported the release of more clinical trial data but urged caution on public release of individual patient data. Bell serves on the

Genentech Genentech, Inc., is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It became an independent subsidiary of Roche in 2009. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent center within R ...

Board in San Francisco, and formerly served on the scientific advisory board of

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includin ...

(1997–2000). He was the founding director of three

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

companies, including Oxagen, Avidex, and Powderject and is also on the Board of Atopix. His charity positions include chairing the board of trustees of the Oxford Health Alliance and the science committee of the

UK Biobank UK Biobank is a large long-term biobank study in the United Kingdom (UK) which is investigating the respective contributions of genetic predisposition and environmental exposure (including nutrition, lifestyle, medications etc.) to the developmen ...

. He chairs the Global Health Scientific advisory board of the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

, he is a Trustee of the

Rhodes Trust Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is listed Grade II* ...

, he sits on the award jury of the

Gairdner Foundation The Gairdner Foundation is a non-profit organization devoted to the recognition of outstanding achievements in biomedical research worldwide. It was created in 1957 by James Arthur Gairdner to recognize and reward the achievements of medical resea ...

, he is a non-executive member of

, and he is a member of

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organization. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

. He has advised governments and foundations in Singapore, France, Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Alberta on biomedical research. He is on the

Jenner Institute The Jenner Institute is a research institute on the Old Road Campus in Headington, east Oxford, England. It was formed in November 2005 through a partnership between the University of Oxford and the UK Institute for Animal Health. It is ass ...

Board and the Gray Institute Board. He is on the advisory Board for the McGill Genomics Institute and the

Montreal Neurological Institute The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC; french: Centre universitaire de santé McGill) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and is one of the largest medical complex in ...

, and chairs the advisory board for the Oak Foundation and the Robertson Foundation. He attended the

2013 Bilderberg Conference The 2013 Bilderberg Conference took place June 6–9, 2013, at The Grove hotel in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. It was the first Bilderberg Group conference to be held in the United Kingdom since the 1998 meeting in Turnberry, Scotland. ''The ...

. A 2021 feature article by freelance journalist Paul D Thacker in the ''BMJ'' stated: “The government and Oxford University’s failure to be open about Bell’s financial ties make it impossible for the public to know what, if any, interests the professor has when influencing key decisions about which of the many covid-19 tests the UK should purchase.”

Research

Bell's research has identified genes involved in susceptibility to

diabetes mellitus type 1 Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar f ...

and

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involv ...

and

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

. His work has been important in elucidating the interactions on the surface of the

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 r ...

involved in immune activation. He has also worked on the biomedical applications of high-throughput genomic technologies, including

structural genomics Structural genomics seeks to describe the 3-dimensional structure of every protein encoded by a given genome. This genome-based approach allows for a high-throughput method of structure determination by a combination of experimental and modeling ...

and

ENU ENU, also known as ''N''-ethyl-''N''-nitrosourea (chemical formula C3H7N3O2), is a highly potent mutagen. For a given gene in mice, ENU can induce 1 new mutation in every 700 loci. It is also toxic at high doses. The chemical is an alkylatin ...

mutagenesis Mutagenesis () is a process by which the genetic information of an organism is changed by the production of a mutation. It may occur spontaneously in nature, or as a result of exposure to mutagens. It can also be achieved experimentally using la ...

. He has been directly involved in applying genetics in a clinical settings and helped developed the 100,000 genome project for

Awards and honours

Bell was elected a

Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) is an award for medical scientists who are judged by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences for the "excellence of their science, their contribution to medicine and society and the range of th ...

(FMedSci) in 1998. He was awarded an honorary

D.Sc. Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degree by the

in 2003. Bell was President of the

from 2006 to 2011. In 2008, 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 science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS). He was appointed an Honorary

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from aroun ...

(HonFREng) in 2009, and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

for services to medicine in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

of that year. He has received honorary degrees from the Universities of York, Warwick, Glasgow, Dundee, Imperial College,

King’s College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and University of Toronto (2014). He was appointed

Knight Grand Cross 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 ...

(GBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to medicine, medical research and the life science industry. In addition to Sir Charles Gordon and Sir Edward Beatty, he is one of the few Canadians to be admitted to the highest class in this order.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, John 1952 births Living people British geneticists Canadian geneticists British immunologists Canadian immunologists Canadian Rhodes Scholars Stanford University staff Canadian Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Canadian Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford Regius Professors of Medicine (University of Oxford) Ridley College alumni Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Scientists from Edmonton Rhodes Trustees Canadian Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the National Academy of Medicine