Edinburgh Infectious Diseases
EID logo 2019

Many congratulations to Edinburgh Infectious Diseases members Sarah Reece and Liz Grant, new Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

The RSE, Scotland’s National Academy, has announced the addition of 62 new Fellows from the worlds of science, health, international development, business, creative arts, technology, law, and public engagement.

Royal Society of Edinburgh on George Street
14 of the new fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh are members of the University of Edinburgh.

Sarah and Liz join an existing Fellowship of over 1600 individuals who give their time and expertise for free to support the RSE in delivering its mission of ‘knowledge made useful’.

Professor Sarah Reece

Sarah Reece is Professor of Evolutionary Parasitology in the Institute of Evolution Biology, part of the School of Biological Sciences.

Work in Sarah's lab seeks to uncover the strategies parasites have evolved to cope with the challenges and opportunities of their lifestyle.

The focus of the research is malaria (Plasmodium) parasites, which cause some of the most serious infectious diseases of humans, domestic animals, livestock, and wildlife.

Sarah Reece and Liz Grant
Liz Grant and Sarah Reece

Their aim is to interrogate how parasites work to better understand how natural selection operates and provide insight into how infectious diseases can be better treated.

Insights into the parasites’ lifecycle, social interactions and reproductive strategies could lead to new ways of tackling these diseases.

The findings made by Sarah and her lab could also reveal wider insights into the biology of other species such as insects, birds and mammals.

“I’m delighted to be elected to the RSE and look forward to working with them to undertake public engagements activities and promote the world class biological research carried out in Scotland.”

Sarah Reece FRSE

Read more about Sarah's research on her lab website

Professor Liz Grant

Also elected to fellowship of the RSE is Professor Liz Grant.

Liz is the University Assistant Principal Global Health, Director of the Global Health Academy and a member of the Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics. 

Her research focuses on international palliative care and health systems strengthening.

Liz is a passionate proponent of equitable accessible palliative care for those in low and middle income countries, leading work to help integrate palliative care into the health systems of four African Countries, and was a co-author on the 2013 WISH report Dying Healed: Transforming end of life care through innovation.

Read more about Liz on the Global Health Academy website

New fellows at University of Edinburgh

Linda Bauld – Professor of Public Health

Christine Bell FBA – Professor of Constitutional Law and Assistant Principal (Global Justice)

Luke Bisby – Professor of Fire and Structures

David Fitzpatrick – Professor and Group Leader, MRC Human Genetics Unit

Liz Grant – Assistant Principal and Director of the Global Health Academy

Mirella Lapata – Personal Chair in Natural Language Processing

Stephen Lawrie – Head of Psychiatry & Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging

Peter Nienow – Professor of Glaciology

Dónal O'Carroll – Professor of Stem Cell Biology

David Price – Professor of Developmental Neurobiology

Sarah Reece – Chair of Evolutionary Parasitology

Philippa Saunders – Professor of Reproductive Steroids

Stephen Wigmore – Professor of Transplantation Surgery and Honorary Consultant Surgeon

Commenting on the new fellows, President of the RSE, Professor Dame Anne Glover, said

Induction

The new Fellows will be inducted in May 2019.

Commenting on the new fellows, President of the RSE, Professor Dame Anne Glover, said:

The calibre of our Fellows never ceases to amaze me and this year is no different. For such a small country we surpass ourselves with the talent and expertise that exists across our academic, cultural and business landscape. All of our Fellows are assets, not just to the RSE but to Scotland and the rest of the world, and I look forward to welcoming and working with them.he quotation text is a mandatory field

More information on the current membership and the work of the RSE can be found on the RSE website.

Royal Society of Edinburgh

Related links

Institute of Evoutionary Biology

School of Biolgical Sciences

Usher Institute for Population Health and Informatics

Global Health Academy