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Patrick Vallance

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Vallance of Balham
KCB FRS FMedSci FRCP HonFREng
Official portrait, 2024
Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 July 2024
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byAndrew Griffith
Government Chief Scientific Adviser
In office
4 April 2018 – 2023
Preceded byChris Whitty (interim)
Succeeded byDame Angela McLean
National Technology Advisor
In office
2020–2023
Preceded byLiam Maxwell
Succeeded byDr Dave Smith
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
18 July 2024
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born
Patrick John Thompson Vallance

(1960-03-17) 17 March 1960 (age 64)
Essex, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Sophia Ann Dexter
​
(m. 1986)​
Children3
Alma materSt George's, University of London (BSc, MBBS)
Awards
Scientific career
Institutions

Patrick John Thompson Vallance, Baron Vallance of Balham (born 17 March 1960),[2] is a British physician, scientist, Life Peer, and clinical pharmacologist who serves as Minister of State for Science in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology since July 2024.[3] He previously served as HM Government chief scientific adviser from 2018 to 2023.

From 1986 to 1995, Vallance taught at St George's Hospital Medical School, where his research concentrated on vascular biology and endothelial cell physiology. In 1995, he was appointed a Professor at UCL Medical School, and in 2002 he became head of UCL's department of medicine. From 2012 to 2018, he was President of Research and Development (R&D) at the global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).[4] He served as chairman of the Natural History Museum's board of trustees between 2022 and 2024.[5][6]

In March 2020, as HM Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Vallance appeared alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, in televised briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic.[7][8] He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2022 New Year Honours for "services to public health". In July 2024, Vallance was appointed Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following the Labour Party's victory at the 2024 general election.

Early life and education

[edit]

Patrick Vallance was born on 17 March 1960 to Peter Vallance and Barbara (née Thompson) in south-west Essex, now part of Greater London.[2] His family later moved to Cornwall. Vallance he was educated at Woodford Green Preparatory School and Buckhurst Hill County High School, and subsequently privately educated at Truro School.[2] His early aspiration was to become a palaeontologist.[9]

Vallance studied medicine at St George's, University of London, from 1978, where he was taught by Joe Collier, Professor of Medicines Policy,[1][9][10] and from which he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1981 followed by a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree in 1984.[2] In addition to Collier, he has been inspired by physician Tom Pilkington and former Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge, Sir Keith Peters.[9]

Career and research

[edit]

Prior to taking up senior positions with the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and later in the UK Government, Vallance spent several years in medical research.[11]

St George's Hospital

[edit]

From 1986 to 1995 Vallance taught at St George's Hospital Medical School,[2][10] where his research concentrated on vascular biology and endothelial cell physiology.[12][13] Prior to the discovery of the involvement of nitric oxide, it was believed that high blood pressure was usually a result of constrictor activity in blood vessels. Vallance performed studies which demonstrated the link between nitric oxide and blood pressure.[14]

In 1987, with Joe Collier, he set out to investigate whether human blood vessels demonstrated endothelium-dependent relaxation, a term coined in 1980 by Robert F. Furchgott and John V. Zawadzki after discovering that a large blood vessel would not relax when its single-layered inner most lining was removed. Furchgott and Zawadzki subsequently showed that the occurrence was mediated by what they called endothelium-derived relaxing factor, later found to be nitric oxide, and it was shortly shown to occur in a variety of animals. Using veins from the back of a human hand, Vallance and Collier reproduced Furchgott and Zawadzki's findings.[1][15] Subsequently, their team showed that the human arterial vasculature is actively dilated by a continuous release of nitric oxide.[13][16] In 1991, Vallance and Salvador Moncada published a paper on the role of nitric oxide in cirrhosis, proposing an association between the changes in blood flow in cirrhosis and the vasoactive properties of nitric oxide.[17] The following year they reported that the plasma concentrations of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) were elevated in people who were uraemic.[18][19]

University College Hospital

[edit]

From 1995 to 2002 he was a Professor at UCL Medical School, then Professor of Medicine from 2002 to 2006, and head of medicine.[2][20] He was also registrar of the Academy of Medical Sciences.[13] In 2005, as head of the division of medicine at UCL, he published a paper in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, titled "A post-take ward round", in which he suggested that "reinvention of teams of doctors, nurses, therapists and social workers seems like an important task for general medicine".[21][22][23]

GlaxoSmithKline

[edit]

In 2006, in his mid-40s, Vallance joined GSK as head of drug discovery.[24][25] Four years later he became head of medicines discovery and development, and in 2012 he was appointed head of research and development at GSK.[26][27][28][29][30] Under his leadership, new medicines for cancer, asthma, autoimmune diseases and HIV infection were discovered and approved for use worldwide. He championed open innovation and novel industry-academic partnerships globally,[13][31][29] and maintained a focus on the search for new antibiotics and treatments for tropical diseases.[13][32]

UK Government

[edit]
Lord Vallance in a Government photograph, displaying his ministerial red box behind him

In March 2018, Vallance left GSK, and on 4 April 2018 he began his five-year tenure as Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, replacing the interim officeholder Chris Whitty.[33] In this role he led the Government Office for Science, advising the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.[34][35] In 2018, he was one of nine scientific advisers who, in a paper in Nature, called for "inclusive, rigorous, transparent, and accessible information for policy makers" and supported the Evidence-Based Research Network, established in 2016, to "lobby for all proposals for new research to be supported by references to systematic reviews of relevant existing research".[36]

COVID-19 pandemic

[edit]

In March 2020, as the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Vallance appeared alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Chief Medical Officer for the UK, Chris Whitty, in televised briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic.[7][8] During some March 2020 TV interviews, he made comments interpreted by some as advocating for a "herd immunity" approach.[37] However, in his second written statement to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, he stated that he misspoke while trying to explain a "technically difficult concept", that interviews given that same day demonstrate that he was not advocating for such a policy, and the later published transcripts of SAGE demonstrate the no such policy was being considered or advocated by government scientific advisors including Vallance. Vallance stated in the same statement that he "regrets" his use of the term "herd immunity" in those instances. [38]

In September, it emerged that Vallance owns a deferred bonus of 43,111 shares worth £600,000 in GlaxoSmithKline, a company which was working on developing a COVID vaccine.[39] This led to claims of a potential conflict of interest, as Vallance could be seen to have a financial interest in pushing for a vaccine-based response to the pandemic whether or not this is objectively the best approach.[40] Then Health Secretary Matt Hancock denied that this was the case, with a government spokesperson stating that, "Upon his appointment, appropriate steps were taken to manage the Government Chief Scientific Adviser's interests in line with advice provided at the time. The GCSA has no input into contractual and commercial decisions on vaccine procurement which are taken by Ministers following a robust cross-Government approvals regime".[41]

After a televised briefing alongside Johnson and Whitty on 31 October, where a second "lockdown" was introduced for England, Vallance was criticised for showing two slides – projecting hospital admissions and deaths – which were later reissued with worst-case figures revised downward.[42][43][44] Five days later, a statement from the Office for Statistics Regulation called for greater transparency in published data relating to the pandemic, including publication of data sources and modelling assumptions; the statement did not refer to any specific presentation but was linked by reporters to the 31 October briefing.[45][46]

Minister of State for Science

[edit]

On 5 July 2024, Vallance was appointed Minister of State for Science in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following the Labour Party's victory at the 2024 general election. On 17 July 2024, he was created a Life Peer taking the title of Baron Vallance of Balham[47] and sits on the Labour benches in the House of Lords.[48][49]

Selected publications

[edit]

Vallance's publications[12] include:

  • Hyperdynamic circulation in cirrhosis: a role for nitric oxide?[50]
  • Physiological importance of nitric oxide[51]
  • Exploring vascular nitric oxide in health and disease[1]
  • Nitric oxide in the human cardiovascular system[52]
  • Sildenafil: desired and undesired effects[53]
  • Four principles to make evidence synthesis more useful for policy[54]

Honours and awards

[edit]

In 1995, Vallance was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP).[2] The following year he delivered the Goulstonian Lecture of the Royal College of Physicians, where he gave details of the connection between nitric oxide and blood pressure.[55] In 1999 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci), and in 2002 he was awarded the Graham Bull Prize for Clinical Science.[13] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017[13] and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (HonFREng) in 2022.[56]

Vallance was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2019 New Year Honours for "services to open clinical science".[57][58] He was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2022 New Year Honours for "services to science in government".[59][60]

Vallance was awarded the Lister Medal by the Society of Chemical Industry in 2022, an award recognising prominent leaders working on important advancements for society in the medicinal field.[61][62]

In 2023, he was awarded the Royal Medal by the Royal Society.[63]

Following his appointment as Minister of State for Science, Vallance was elevated to the peerage as Baron Vallance of Balham, of Balham in the London Borough of Wandsworth, on 17 July 2024.[64] He was introduced to the House of Lords on 18 July.[65]

Personal life

[edit]

Vallance married Sophia Ann Dexter in 1986; they have two sons and one daughter.[2] Dexter is a former general practitioner (GP) and honorary tutor at St. George's Hospital Medical School.[66]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Vallance, Patrick (1997). "Exploring vascular nitric oxide in health and disease. The Goulstonian Lecture 1996". Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London. 31 (3): 321–7. PMC 5421009. PMID 9192338.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Vallance, Sir Patrick (John Thompson)". Who's Who. A & C Black. 2023. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U246054. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: July 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  4. ^ Can Data Make a Medicine?, YouTube video, Royal Institution (2017)
  5. ^ "Natural History Museum appoints Patrick Vallance as chair". February 2022.
  6. ^ "Former BBC head is Natural History Museum's new Chair". Maxwell Museums. 17 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  7. ^ a b Watts, Charlotte H.; Vallance, Patrick; Whitty, Christopher J. M. (2020). "Coronavirus: global solutions to prevent a pandemic". Nature. 578 (7795): 363. Bibcode:2020Natur.578R.363W. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-00457-y. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 32071448.
  8. ^ a b "Government is listening to scientists on coronavirus response, Vallance says | Civil Service World". civilserviceworld.com. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  9. ^ a b c Anon (2015). "Patrick Vallance: Inquisitive and geeky". British Medical Journal. 350 (mar05 5): h1144. doi:10.1136/bmj.h1144. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 25742697. S2CID 5081180.(subscription required)
  10. ^ a b "Career profile; Patrick Vallance"[permanent dead link‍]. St George's Alumni Newsletter; the magazine for Alumni and Friends of St George's, University of London. Issue 16 (spring 2013), p.18-19.
  11. ^ Hardy, Jack (13 March 2020). "Who is Sir Patrick Vallance? Government's chief scientific adviser carved path through research and big pharma". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  12. ^ a b Patrick Vallance publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Anon (2017). "Patrick Vallance". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  14. ^ Moncada, Salvador (1999). "Nitric oxide: discovery and impact on clinical medicine". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 92 (4): 164–169. doi:10.1177/014107689909200402. ISSN 0141-0768. PMC 1297136. PMID 10450191 – via SAGE Journals.
  15. ^ Blackman Daniel J.; Morris-Thurgood Jayne A.; Atherton John J.; Ellis Gethin R.; Anderson Richard A.; Cockcroft John R.; Frenneaux Michael P. (2000). "Endothelium-Derived Nitric Oxide Contributes to the Regulation of Venous Tone in Humans". Circulation. 101 (2): 165–170. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.101.2.165. PMID 10637204.
  16. ^ Barba, Gianvincenzo; Mullen, Michael J.; Donald, Anne; MacAllister, Raymond J. (1999). "Determinants of the Response of Human Blood Vessels to Nitric Oxide Donors In Vivo". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 289 (3): 1662–1668. ISSN 0022-3565. PMID 10336566.
  17. ^ Morales-Ruiz, Manuel (2011). "14. Pathophysiological role of Akt and endothelial nitric oxidesynthase in cirrhosis". In Groszmann, R. J.; Bosch, J. (eds.). Portal Hypertension in the 21st Century: The proceedings of a symposium sponsored by Axcan Pharma Inc. and NicOx S.A., held in Montrél, Canada, April 2–4, 2004. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 121–125. ISBN 978-94-007-1042-9.
  18. ^ Ketteler, Markus; Ritz, Eberhard (1 September 2000). "Renal failure: A state of nitric oxide deficiency?". Kidney International. 58 (3): 1356–1357. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1755.2000.00294.x. ISSN 0085-2538. PMID 10972702.
  19. ^ Vallance, P.; Leone, A.; Calver, A.; Collier, J.; Moncada, S. (1992). "Accumulation of an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis in chronic renal failure". The Lancet. 339 (8793): 572–575. doi:10.1016/0140-6736(92)90865-Z. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 1347093. S2CID 9790385. Closed access icon
  20. ^ Medicine, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and (2017). Real-World Evidence Generation and Evaluation of Therapeutics: Proceedings of a Workshop. National Academies Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-309-45565-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Kafetz, Kalman (July 2005). "Integrated teams". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 98 (7): 338. doi:10.1177/014107680509800725. ISSN 0141-0768. PMC 1168934. PMID 15994605.
  22. ^ Vallance, Patrick (2005). "A post-take ward round". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 98 (5): 191–192. doi:10.1177/014107680509800503. ISSN 0141-0768. PMC 1129032. PMID 15863758.
  23. ^ Varughese, George I; Dissanayake, Sanjaya U (August 2005). "The working day in general medicine". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 98 (8): 387. doi:10.1177/014107680509800827. ISSN 0141-0768. PMC 1181855. PMID 16055914.
  24. ^ Watts, Geoff (2007). "Working within industry's silken but firm embrace". British Medical Journal. 334 (7599): 871.1–871. doi:10.1136/bmj.39190.671644.DB. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1857744. PMID 17463447.
  25. ^ "Dr Patrick Vallance: President, R&D". gsk.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017.
  26. ^ Jim Al-Khalili (2015). "The Life Scientific interviews Patrick Vallance on pharmaceuticals". bbc.co.uk. BBC.
  27. ^ Cohen, Deborah (2012). "The End of Drug Discovery". bbc.co.uk. BBC.
  28. ^ Anon (2010). "Patrick Vallance". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 9 (11): 834. doi:10.1038/nrd3307. ISSN 1474-1776. PMID 21030993. S2CID 11104458. Closed access icon
  29. ^ a b Cressey, Daniel (2011). "Deep future of drug discovery". Nature. doi:10.1038/news.2011.127. ISSN 1744-7933.
  30. ^ Rose, Nikolas (2018). OurPsychiatric Future. John Wiley & Sons. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-7456-8915-9.
  31. ^ Cressey, Daniel (2011). "Traditional drug-discovery model ripe for reform". Nature. 471 (7336): 17–18. Bibcode:2011Natur.471...17C. doi:10.1038/471017a. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 21368796. S2CID 4395455.
  32. ^ Evanson, Deborah; Narcross, Jon (4 May 2016). "Imperial celebrates over 3,000 graduating students | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  33. ^ Gibney, Elizabeth (2017). "U.K. Government Appoints Next Chief Scientific Adviser". Nature. 551 (7680): 282. Bibcode:2017Natur.551..282G. doi:10.1038/nature.2017.22956. PMID 29144475. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  34. ^ "Appointment of Dr Patrick Vallance as government Chief Scientific Adviser". Cabinet Office. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  35. ^ "Patrick Vallance, President, R&D, GSK to become UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser". GlaxoSmithKline. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  36. ^ Glasziou, Paul; Chalmers, Iain (2018). "Research waste is still a scandal". British Medical Journal. 363. doi:10.1136/bmj.k4645. ISSN 0959-8138. PMID 30420358. S2CID 53294156.
  37. ^ Heather Stewart; Mattha Busby (13 March 2020). "Coronavirus: science chief defends UK plan from criticism". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  38. ^ Vallance, Patrick. "UK COVID-19 Inquiry: Second Witness Statement of Sir Patrick Valance" (PDF). Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  39. ^ Roach, April (24 September 2020). "Matt Hancock denies conflict of interest in Patrick Vallance holding vaccine company shares". Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  40. ^ Hymas, Charles (23 September 2020). "Revealed: Sir Patrick Vallance has £600,000 shareholding in firm contracted to develop vaccines". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  41. ^ Jimenez, Darcy (24 September 2020). "UK's chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance has £600,000 of shares in vaccine maker GSK". Metro. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  42. ^ Press Association (6 November 2020). "Government criticised after errors emerge in key Covid-19 projections". Glasgow Times. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  43. ^ Conway, Ed (6 November 2020). "Coronavirus: Disturbing lack of transparency risks undermining lockdown". Sky News. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  44. ^ "Slides and datasets to accompany coronavirus press conference: 31 October 2020". GOV.UK. Prime Minister's Office. 3 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  45. ^ "Covid: Regulator criticises data used to justify lockdown". BBC News. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  46. ^ "OSR Statement regarding transparency of data related to COVID-19". Office for Statistics Regulation. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  47. ^ www.thegazette.co.uk
  48. ^ "Sir Patrick Vallance: From Covid adviser to science minister". London Evening Standard. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  49. ^ "Sir Patrick Vallance joins Labour government as science minister". Times Higher Education. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  50. ^ Vallance, P.; Moncada, S. (1991). "Hyperdynamic circulation in cirrhosis: a role for nitric oxide?". The Lancet. 337 (8744): 776–778. doi:10.1016/0140-6736(91)91384-7. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 1706450. S2CID 35521040.
  51. ^ Collier, J; Vallance, P (1991). "Physiological importance of nitric oxide". BMJ. 302 (6788): 1289–1290. doi:10.1136/bmj.302.6788.1289. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1670035. PMID 2059682.
  52. ^ Vallance, Patrick (2002). "Nitric oxide in the human cardiovascular system-SKB lecture 1997". British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 45 (5): 433–439. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2125.1998.00720.x. ISSN 0306-5251. PMC 1873539. PMID 9643614.
  53. ^ Vallance, Patrick (1999). "Sildenafil: desired and undesired effects". Hospital Medicine. 60 (3): 158–159. doi:10.12968/hosp.1999.60.3.1057. ISSN 1462-3935. PMID 10476234.
  54. ^ Donnelly, Christl A.; Boyd, Ian; Campbell, Philip; Craig, Claire; Vallance, Patrick; Walport, Mark; Whitty, Christopher J. M.; Woods, Emma; Wormald, Chris (2018). "Four principles to make evidence synthesis more useful for policy". Nature. 558 (7710): 361–364. Bibcode:2018Natur.558..361D. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-05414-4. hdl:10044/1/61362. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 29925978.
  55. ^ Spronk, Peter E; Zandstra, Durk F; Ince, Can (2004). "Bench-to-bedside review: Sepsis is a disease of the microcirculation". Critical Care. 8 (6): 462–468. doi:10.1186/cc2894. ISSN 1364-8535. PMC 1065042. PMID 15566617.
  56. ^ "Royal Academy of Engineering welcomes 72 new Fellows". Royal Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  57. ^ "No. 62507". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2018. p. N2.
  58. ^ "Patrick Vallance knighted in 2019 New Year's Honours". British Pharmacological Society. 29 December 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  59. ^ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N3.
  60. ^ "New Year Honours: Whitty, Van-Tam and Blair knighted, Lumley and Redgrave made dames". BBC News. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  61. ^ "Sir Patrick Vallance to deliver 2022 SCI Lister Memorial Lecture on 24 November". www.soci.org. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  62. ^ Barker, Dan (24 November 2022). "Sir Patrick Vallance issues warning over net-zero goal". The Independent.
  63. ^ "Royal Medal". royalsociety.org. 2023.
  64. ^ "No. 64467". The London Gazette. 23 July 2024. p. 14206.
  65. ^ "Introduction: Lord Vallance of Balham". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 839. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Lords. 18 July 2024. col. 27.
  66. ^ "Our Trustees". Cardboard Citizens. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
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Business positions
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 Head of R&D at GSK
January 2012 – March 2018 		Succeeded by
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2018–2023 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of State for Science
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