Kin-Chow Chang qualified as a veterinary surgeon from the University of Bristol, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He obtained his postgraduate degrees from University College London and the Royal Veterinary College.

After his five-year Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship, he joined the Roslin Institute as a Principal Investigator followed by appointments at the University of Glasgow and, presently, University of Nottingham. He is Professor of Veterinary Molecular Medicine at the Nottingham vet school and engaged in active research programmes on antivirals and host innate resistance against major human and veterinary viruses. 

Orcid

University of Nottingham
Sutton Bonington Campus
Loughborough
LE12 5RD, UK                        

+44 (0)115 95 16491

kin-chow.chang@nottingham.ac.uk

Ephraim Okolo gained his PhD at the University of Leeds in medicinal synthetic organic chemistry. He gained valuable industrial experience in drug discovery as a medicinal chemist at Sygnature Discovery for two years prior to joining the School of Chemistry as postdoctoral research fellow in the field of semi-synthetic antiviral drug development based on natural compounds. 

University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, UK
NG7 2RD

ephraim.okolo@nottingham.ac.uk

Professor Christopher J. Hayes has an extensive track record in the synthesis of biologically active molecules (PhD with Prof G. Pattenden FRS, and NATO PDRA Fellow with Prof C. H. Heathcock, U.C. Berkeley).  He was appointed to a lectureship in the School of Chemistry (Nottingham) in 1997 and then to a Readership in 2003 and Chair in 2011.

His research portfolio spans a number of areas with recent effort being placed upon the synthesis of complex, biologically active target molecules.  Recent work has focussed on the development of flow chemistry techniques that have delivered new methods for heterocycle synthesis, the safe preparation of diazo compounds, and the introduction of fluorine into organic molecules.

His research interests extend into chemical biology and drug discovery projects. He has been principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous grants from the MRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, Wellcome Trust and EU, in addition to support from DEFRA, the Nuffield Foundation and industry (GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Merck, Roche).

Orcid

University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, UK
NG7 2RD

chris.hayes@nottingham.ac.uk

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam is a doctor and public health specialist with a clinical background in emergency medicine, anaesthesia and infectious diseases. He is an academic expert on respiratory viruses and pandemics.

His career has also taken him to Public Health England, the World Health Organization, and the pharmaceutical and vaccine industries. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers. Jonathan was seconded to the Department of Health and Social Care in 2017-22 as Deputy Chief Medical Officer. He is well-known for his leadership role during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly his unique, no-nonsense, communication style from the podium at No.10 Downing Street, his colourful analogies – often football related, and for the acquisition and rollout of vaccines and antiviral drugs in the UK.

He received a knighthood from Her late Majesty the Queen in 2022, for services to public health. Alongside numerous other eponymous lectures, he was awarded the Royal Society’s Attenborough Award and Lecture 2022, for outstanding public engagement in science.

Jonathan’s background is unusual, and his life journey is fascinating, hailing from mixed British-Vietnamese heritage and what he would describe as a very ordinary upbringing in South Lincolnshire.

University of Nottingham

jonathan.vantam@nottingham.ac.uk