Emeritus ProfessorAndrew George, DSc

Andrew George did his first degree at the University of Cambridge (1984, Natural Sciences, Part II Pathology), before going on to the Tenovus Laboratories in the University of Southampton to do his PhD with Professor Freda Stevenson (1987). He worked on the use of idiotypic immunoglobulin as a vaccination strategy for B cell lymphoma. He was awarded a Beit Memorial Fellowship and stayed in Southampton for his first postdoctoral period, before going to Dr David Segal’s laboratory in the Experimental Immunology Branch of the National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, USA. He worked on using recombinant techniques to generate novel antibody molecules. In 1992 he returned to the UK as a lecturer at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital (now part of the Faculty of Medicine of Imperial College London) where he was Professor of Molecular Immunology in the Department.

Andrew was Director of the Graduate School and the School of Professional Development at Imperial. Until 2003 he was course organiser of the MSc in Immunology, and in 2000 and 2004 was given an Imperial College Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was Head of Science BSc courses for the Faculty of Medicine.

He left Imperial in 2013 to be Deputy Vice Chancellor at Brunel University, where he was until 2018. He was appointed Professor Emeritus at Imperial in 2021.

Andrew’s research has sought to understand and manipulate the immune system in order to treat disease, in particular to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs. He has also used mathematical models to understand how the immune system functions. During 2003-2006 he was BBSRC Research Leave Fellow.

In addition to his research, he has been involved in the ethical conduct and regulation of research. He was Chair of the UK’s National Research Ethics Advisors’ Panel and on the Clinical Trials Expert Advisory Group for the Commission of Human Medicines/MHRA. He was appointed MBE for his work in facilitating ethical research and protecting research participants.

Andrew is currently on the Board of Health Education England, the Health Research Authority, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Deputy Chair). He is also co-chair of the UK Committee on Research Integrity.