In the first lecture of the 2021 Christmas Lectures, Jonathan Van Tam dives into the micro-world of viruses, revealing how these invisible invaders can infect our bodies, and how a revolution in testing may transform medicine forever with the help of immunologist Katie Ewer and virologist Ravi Gupta.
Watch more Christmas Lectures: https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch-royal-institution-christm…
Jonathan Van Tam is an epidemiologist and acted as an independent advisor to the UK Government as one of two Deputy Chief Medical Officers. After graduating in medicine from the University of Nottingham in 1987, Jonathan spent five years practising hospital-based clinical medicine before becoming senior lecturer at the University of Nottingham and regional epidemiologist for the Public Health Laboratory service in 1997. After four years in the pharmaceutical industry he was appointed Consultant Epidemiologist and Head of the Pandemic Influenza Office at the UK Health Protection Agency in 2004.
Jonathan was appointed Deputy Chief Medical Officer in October 2017 and led on health protection until March 2022. He was awarded an MBE in 1998, and was knighted in the 2022 New Years Honours for services to public health.
https://www.rigb.org/explore-science/explore/person/sir-jonathan-van-tam
This Christmas Lecture was originally broadcast on BBC4 on 28 December 2021
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