Queen’s New Year’s Honours List 2020: AstraZeneca’s Dr Mene Pangalos knighted and former Arthur Rank Hospice chief executive awarded MBE
Two knighthoods and a damehood have been awarded to people from the Cambridgeshire region in the Queen’s New Year Honours List 2020.
The New Year Honours list recognises the achievements and service of people across the UK.
The honours include a knighthood or damehood (KBE or DBE), Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
Dr Menelas Nicolas Pangalos
A knighthood has been awarded to Dr Mene Pangalos, executive vice-president innovative medicines and early development biotech unit at AstraZeneca, which is building its global headquarters and R&D centre on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Dr Pangalos has been awarded the honour for his services to science in the UK.
Based in Cambridge, he has overall responsibility for AstraZeneca’s research and development activities in biopharmaceuticals.
Among his key achievements for the company has been changing the culture to drive forward an almost fivefold improvement in hit rate at AstraZeneca - as measured by the number of pipeline molecules advancing from pre-clinical investigation to completion of phase III clinical trials.
He has been key to driving open innovation partnerships across the UK life science industry, helping to bring together pharma with non-governmental and peer organisations and more than 200 academic institutions.
He said: “I am truly humbled and immensely honoured to receive this award and feel incredibly fortunate to have worked alongside so many talented colleagues and collaborators through my career.
“The UK is one of the best places in the world to do applied research, and life sciences clusters such as the one in Cambridge drive the convergence of scientific innovation and talent, enabling us to better turn science into life-changing medicines.”
Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer at AstraZeneca, said: “Mene’s knighthood is fitting recognition of his outstanding talent and commitment to UK science and drug discovery which is helping bring innovative new medicines to patients around the world.
“He has driven the transformation of research and development at AstraZeneca, with a remarkable improvement in productivity in recent years, and he is now accelerating efforts in the digital transformation of R&D.”
Dr Pangalos is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal Society of Biology and Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge. He sits on the Medical Research Council, co-chairs the Life Sciences Council Expert Group on Innovation, Clinical Research and Data, and is a member of the UK Life Sciences Industrial Strategy implementation board.
He sits on the boards of The Francis Crick Institute, Cambridge University’s Judge Business School and Dizal Pharma, and is a member of the Royal Society's Science, Industry and Translation Committee.
He has held Visiting Professorships at King’s College London and the University of Pennsylvania and is the holder of honorary degrees from Glasgow University and Imperial College London. In 2019, Dr Pangalos received the Greek Prix Galien Scientific Researcher Award.
Professor Anthony Cheetham FRS
Distinguished research fellow in the department of materials science at the University of Cambridge, Professor Anthony Cheetham has been awarded a knighthood.
The honour recognises his services to material chemistry, UK science, and global outreach.
Professor Cheetham read chemistry at St Catherine's College, Oxford, graduating with first class honours in 1969 and obtained his DPhil at Oxford in 1971.
In 1974, he joined the chemistry faculty at Oxford before moving to the United States a year later to take up a position as Professor of Materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he became the first director of the Materials Research Laboratory (MRL).
In 2007, he moved back to the UK to become Goldsmiths’ Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, a position he held until October 2017 before taking up his current role.
Professor Cheetham, 73, was vice-president and treasurer of the Royal Society from 2012 to 2017.
His area of research is inorganic and hybrid materials, and involves their synthesis, characterisation and applications.
Professor Lynn Faith Gladden CBE, FRS
Professor Lynn Gladden, executive chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, has been awarded a damehood.
The Trinity College fellow received the honour for services to academic and industrial research in chemical engineering.
Prof Gladden is internationally recognised for her work on advancing magnetic resonance imaging techniques and using them in engineering research to gain a greater understanding of the physical and chemical phenomena that determine the performance of chemical processes and their resulting products.
She was pro-vice-chancellor for research at Cambridge from 2010 to 2016.
She said: “This is a great surprise and honour. It also provides a great opportunity to thank senior colleagues in my research group, and all the students and post-doctoral workers who have worked with me over the past 30 years. I must also thank the University of Cambridge, Trinity College and, in particular, my first ‘boss’ Professor John Davidson, who have been so supportive over the years.”
Professor Andrew David Neely FREng
Professor Andy Neely, pro vice-chancellor for enterprise and business relations at the University of Cambridge has been awarded an OBE for services to research, and to university/industry collaboration.
He is the former head of the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), a fellow of Sidney Sussex College, director of the Centre for Digital Built Britain and founding director of the Cambridge Service Alliance.
He is widely recognised for his work on the servitisation of manufacturing, as well as his work on performance measurement and management.
Previously he has held appointments at Cranfield University, London Business School, Cambridge University, where he was a fellow of Churchill College, Nottingham University, where he completed his PhD, and British Aerospace.
He was deputy director of AIM Research – the UK’s management research initiative – from 2003 until 2012.
He was elected a fellow of the British Academy of Management in 2007, a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2008, and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2018.
He said: “The mission of Cambridge University is to contribute to society. We do that at scale by working in partnership with others and I have been incredibly fortunate across my career to work with a wide range of talented people from universities and business. While awards single out individuals, individuals usually rely on teams and I have been lucky enough to work with some of the best teams. So while I am flattered to have been honoured, I’d really like to say thank you to all those who I have worked with for all they have done.”
Dame Sally Davies
Recently appointed Trinity College master Dame Sally Davies, FRS. FMedSci, received the honour of Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) for services to public health and research.
Before arriving at Trinity College in October, Dame Sally was chief medical officer for England and chief medical advisor to the government. She led the government’s international campaign on antimicrobial resistance and advised it in health emergencies, including Ebola in West Africa 2013-15, Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018, Zika, Wave 3 of the flu pandemic in 2010, and the Novichok attack in 2018.
She said: “I am honoured to receive this GCB recognising the efforts of many people across Government, the NHS and beyond, working together on issues ranging through health research and public health to fighting the rise of antimicrobial resistance both in the UK and across the world. We will continue to build coalitions for action as this war to save lives is not over.”
Dr Lynn Morgan
The former chief executive of Arthur Rank Hospice has been awarded an MBE for services to the community in Cambridgeshire.
Dr Lynn Morgan, 65, who lives in Cambridge, spent nine years as CEO at the hospice before retiring in March this year.
She told Cambridge Independent: “It’s a big surprise. I feel very humbled to be receiving it.
“I haven’t been able to tell anybody and my mother, Margaret Beavis, will be absolutely thrilled.”
During her time at the hospice, Dr Morgan saw Arthur Rank increase its number of employees from five to 200, and fundraise for, build and move to a new purpose-built £10.5million facility at Shelford Bottom.
Olivia Newton-John
Cambridge-born actress and singer was given a damehood for services to charity, cancer research and entertainment.
She said: “I am extremely excited, honoured and grateful beyond words to be included with such an esteemed group of women who have received this distinguished award before me.
“As a girl born in Cambridge, I am very proud of my British ancestry and so appreciative to be recognised in this way by the United Kingdom.”
From weightlifting to the environment
Cambridge-born Welsh weightlifter David Morgan has been honoured with an MBE.
Mr Morgan became the youngest ever Commonwealth Games weightlifting champion in 1982 at Brisbane, at 17 years of age. He went on to win medals in six different Commonwealth Games, with victories in 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002.
He received the honour for services to weightlifting.
Gabrielle Edwards has been awarded a CBE for her services to the environment.
Ms Edwards is deputy director of chemicals, pesticides and hazardous waste at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Bt consultant in emergency medicine at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Thomas Collingwood Hughes, has been awarded an OBE for services to healthcare technology and information.
Dr Joanne Elizabeth Bailey, head of psychology services at HM Prison and Probation Service, has been honoured with an OBE for services to forensic psychology, offender rehabilitation and public safety.
Dawn Rebecca Fitt, engineering apprenticeship training coordinator at Bedford College, has also been awarded an OBE.
She has received the honour for services to training, inclusion and diversity in engineering.
There are also MBEs for George Richard Hyde for services to the community in Ramsey and Dr Nalini Jitendra Modha, GP at Thistlemoor Medical Centre, Peterborough, for services to the NHS.
Julian Pell-Coggins, of the Metropolitan Police Service, from Cambridgeshire, has been awarded a British Empire Medal or services to young people in Enfield.
Read more
How AstraZeneca achieved a fivefold increase in its new medicines success rate
Cambridge’s Arthur Rank Hospice building is best in East
