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Announcing our next President

News, Jun 06 2022

The Biochemical Society is pleased to announce that our next President will be Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow, who will take over from the current President, Professor Sir Pete Downes, in July 2022.

Dame Julia is currently Chair of Public Health England and President of the Royal Society of Biology. She was Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Kent from 2007 until 2017, the first female President of Universities UK and a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. She is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Royal Society of Biology and the Institute of Physics and is an honorary member of the Biochemical Society. Julia’s scientific studies pioneered the use of computational methods to study the structures of large biologically important molecules. She became Professor of Biomolecular Sciences in 1995 at Birkbeck, University of London, where she was appointed Vice-Master from 1998 –2002. Before joining the University of Kent, Julia was Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). 

Current President, Pete Downes, has said: “I am delighted that Julia is to succeed me as President next year. The Biochemical Society will gain tremendously not only from her strong, inclusive and engaging leadership, but also from her visionary approach to viewing the life sciences holistically and integrating disciplines.”

Julia has said: “It is an honour to be elected the next President of the Biochemical Society. I look forward to working to support the membership at a time when their skills are needed so much by society.”