Collecting COVID: Oral Histories

Georgina Ferry interviews Carina Joe, Senior Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Vaccine Development, 1 September 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:32) early interest in science and route to current role at Oxford, particularly biotechnology, Masters course at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, PhD and work on vaccines including manufacturing process; (00:07:35) the process relating to id...

Georgina Ferry interviews William James, Professor of Virology, 18 August 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:22) early interest in medicine, particularly genetics, studies in Birmingham, PhD at Oxford and academic post at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology [teaching bacteriology], work with James Porterfield on viruses, research in the 1980s on HIV; (00:03:07) macrophages, including how t...

Georgina Ferry interviews Alain Townsend, Professor of Molecular Immunology, 16 August 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:44) early interest in medicine and St Mary's Hospital Medical School, training with Professors Stan Peart and Hugh Dudley, work with Ita Askonas and John Skehel on flu virus at the National Institute for Medical Research, interest in immunology, PhD research on T-cells, retr...

Georgina Ferry interviews Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine, 28 April 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:10) emergence of the pandemic in Europe, particularly in Lombardy, Italy; (00:01:08) concerns relating to a lack of PPE in the health service, ventilators (including ventilator competition launched by U.K. Government, call with former Minister of Health in China, Chen Zhu), and tes...

Georgina Ferry interviews Aris Katzourakis, Professor of Evolution and Genomics, 27 January 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:32) AK's early interest in science, virus evolution, PhD studies, post doctoral work in Oxford and later post as a professor in this area; (00:01:48) what is a virus?; (00:04:07) the role of viruses in the evolution of their hosts; (00:04:45) methods of research; (00:06...

Georgina Ferry interviews Lucie Cluver, Professor of Child and Family Social Work, 7 July 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:21) early interest and training in social work, work in South Africa and with children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, academic social work; (00:02:00) HIV projects, including evidence-based interventions and work with families; (00:07:20) first awareness of COVID-19, including cor...

Georgina Ferry interviews Carl Heneghan, Professor of Evidence Based Medicine, 4 July 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:41) early interest in medicine and studies at Oxford, position within the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, work as a GP and in an out of hours setting at evenings and weekends; (00:02:37) the concept of evidence-based medicine; (00:04:33) systematic reviews, randomised con...

Georgina Ferry interviews Sunetra Gupta, Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, 15 June 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:35) early education, secondary school in Calcutta, later studies in biology and mathematics at Princeton University in the U.S.A., PhD at Imperial College London in mathematical epidemiology, fellowships with the Wellcome Trust and at Oxford, permanent position in the Depar...

Georgina Ferry interviews Sir David Stuart, Professor of Structural Biology, 10 June 2022. Topics discussed include (00:01:33) early interest in biological sciences and education at King's College London and University of Bristol looking at crystallography and structure of proteins, work in China supported by Dorothy Hodgkin and David Phillips, work with Louise Johnson at Oxford and lectureship wo...

Georgina Ferry interviews Jennifer Beam Dowd, Professor of Demography and Population Health, 26 May 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:30) work on the social determinants of health, graduate school education at Princeton University in Economics and Public Policy, later postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan and work with Allison Aiello, Assistant Professorship at City University of...

Georgina Ferry interviews Fernanda Duarte, Associate Professor in Computational Organic Chemistry, 26 April 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:21) early education and career in Oxford and Edinburgh; (00:00:40) early interest in chemistry; (00:01:16) use of computation in chemistry, including modelling work on enzymes; (00:02:30) process of building models; (00:03:37) collaboration with other ch...

Georgina Ferry interviews Henry Chan, DPhil Student, 26 April 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:20) DPhil studies at the Synthesis for Biology and Medicine Centre for Doctoral Training [within the Department of Chemistry] and supervision under Professor's Fernanda Duarte and Chris Schofield; (00:00:53) early education in Hong Kong and interest in chemistry, awareness of the SARS outbreak in 20...

Georgina Ferry interviews Meghana Pandit, Chief Executive Officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 7 April 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:27) early interest in medicine, including education and training, work as a gynaecologist and obstetrician, hospital management and clinical and divisional director roles, MBA studies and role as Chief Medical Officer at University Hos...

Georgina Ferry interviews Cathy Creswell, Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology, 7 April 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:20) interest and education in clinical psychology, particularly in child and adolescent mental health developed during training, also a PhD in anxiety problems in children; (00:01:30) anxiety problems in children and adolescents, particularly persistent anxiety th...

Georgina Ferry interviews Naomi Allen, Professor in Epidemiology and Chief Scientist at the U.K. Biobank, 6 April 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:28) early interest in science and education, including work with the U.K. Biobank and a focus on improving studies; (00:02:20) interest in measuring lifestyle factors and environment and their impact on health, methods for investigation and data co...

Georgina Ferry interviews Samantha Vanderslott, University Research Lecturer (Oxford Vaccine Group), 18 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:35) SV's early studies, undergraduate degree in Economics and International Development, interest in politics and governance with a Masters undertaken at Oxford, work for two years with the UK Government (Business, Innovation and Skills), interest in r...

Georgina Ferry interviews Sandy Douglas, Associate Professor (Jenner Institute), 17 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:20) initial questions relating to the large-scale manufacturing of the vaccine, including early ideas relating to a University spin-out company, the decision to partner with AstraZeneca to manufacture and distribute the vaccine; (00:04:25) steps taken to implement the par...

Georgina Ferry interviews Julia Hippisley-Cox, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and General Practice, 16 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:32) JHC's medical training at Sheffield University Medical School, work as an NHS GP in Oxfordshire and work as a researcher in Nottingham and Oxford; (00:01:08) the main question that informs research interests, particularly relating to decisions d...

Georgina Ferry interviews Daniel Ebner, Principal Investigator and Stephanie Hatch, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, 16 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:31) [SH] early interest in biomedical science, PhD in the U.S.A. on DNA repair, work in London on cell biology and cancer research; [DE] early interest in medicine, pharmaceutical work and biotechnology, use of robotics for automation a...

Georgina Ferry interviews Cameron Hepburn, Professor of Environmental Economics, 15 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:31) CH's Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford, interest in environmental issues, MPhil in Economics, work at London School of Economics, set-up of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment; (00:01:46) purpose and aims of the Smith School; (00:03:35) main area of interest...

Georgina Ferry interviews Elizabeth Greenhall, retired GP, 11 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:35) EG's early interest in medicine, training in Oxford and London, public health training and running of Oxfordshire's Family Planning Service and later retirement; (00:02:37) first awareness of COVID-19 and early conversations with David Mant relating to setting up the University's COVID-19...

Georgina Ferry interviews Nicole Robb, Visiting Lecturer, Department of Physics, 10 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:47) NR's early interest in viruses, study of Biology at Imperial College, DPhil at the William Dunn School of Pathology working with Professor Ervin Fodor; (00:02:00) Postdoctoral position in Biophysics; (00:03:55) study of proteins, including structure, single molecule t...

Georgina Ferry interviews Andrew Soltan, medical doctor (John Radcliffe Hospital), 10 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:40) AS's early interest in medicine, medical studies at Christ's College, Cambridge and training in Addenbrooke's Hospital, 2018 move to Oxford; (00:02:00) research work in Oxford using machine learning methods for early detection and prediction of disease; (00:04:00) a...

Georgina Ferry interviews Rebecca Moore, former Postdoctoral Researcher and Laboratory Manager, 9 March 2022. Topics discussed include (00:01:03) RM's early interest in science and studies in biological sciences, microbiology and virology at Warwick University, work at Imperial College with HIV and blood processing for viral load, Wellcome Trust Funded PhD on adenoviral vector development for gene...

Georgina Ferry interviews Sandy Douglas, Associate Professor (Jenner Institute), 24 February 2022. Topics discussed include (00:00:19) SD's medical studies and training, clinical medical student in Oxford, project alongside Clinical Foundation Training at the Jenner Institute, followed by a PhD, NHS training and postdoctoral research; (00:01:58) interest in the development of malaria and rabies va...