Dame Angela Ruth McLean (born 31 May 1961) is professor of

mathematical biology Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of the living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development a ...

in the Department of Zoology 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 ...

, and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence.

Early life and education

McLean was born on 31 May 1961 in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inte ...

, the daughter of Elizabeth and Andre McLean. She was educated at Mary Datchelor Girls’ School,

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This ...

, London, going on to study for a BA in mathematics at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, I ...

, graduating in 1982. In 1986 she received her PhD in

biomathematics Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of the living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development a ...

from Imperial College, London.

Career and research

In 1990, McLean became a Royal Society Research Fellow at Oxford, and for a time was seconded to the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vacc ...

in Paris. She then became head of Mathematical Biology at the

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds scientific re ...

Institute for Animal Health The Pirbright Institute (formerly the Institute for Animal Health) is a research institute in Surrey, England, dedicated to the study of infectious diseases of farm animals. It forms part of the UK government's Biotechnology and Biological Sci ...

and in 1994 Professor of Mathematical Biology in the Department of Zoology at Oxford. In 2005, McLean also became director of the Institute for Emerging Infections of Humans in the James Martin 21st Century School, and in 2008 a senior research fellow in theoretical life sciences at

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of ...

, Oxford. In 2019, it was announced that McLean would be the new Chief Scientific Adviser to the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

, the first woman to be appointed to the post. During 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 ...

in 2020, she contributed to some of the government's media briefings.

Honours and awards

* 2009 –

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 mathemati ...

* 2011 – Gabor Medal of the Royal Society * 2018 – Dame of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), in the

2018 Birthday Honours The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours 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 as p ...

*2018 – Weldon Memorial Prize

Offices held

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Angela Ruth, Dame 1961 births 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century British women scientists 21st-century British zoologists 21st-century British women scientists People educated at Mary Datchelor School Academics of the University of Oxford Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire British women biologists English biologists English ecologists English zoologists Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society Female Fellows of the Royal Society Living people Mathematical ecologists Theoretical biologists Women ecologists Women zoologists