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Chair of Molecular Pathology & Genetics: Tim Aitman

Professor Tim Aitman has been appointed as Chair of Molecular Pathology & Genetics in the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine.

Tim Aitman

He will take up this newly established post at the MRC Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine on 1 April.

Professor Aitman was Consultant Physician at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Professor of Clinical and Molecular Genetics at Imperial College London and Chair of the Section of Molecular Sciences at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre.

His research has combined the use of classical genetics with genome technologies to identify susceptibility genes for common complex disorders including insulin resistance, cardiac hypertrophy and systemic lupus erythematosus. He has published more than 100 papers.

A Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee’s 2009 Inquiry into Genomic Medicine, he has shaped the debate on the use of genome technologies to improve public health.

He also co-founded ‘Genomics of Common Diseases’ in 2007, with support from Nature Genetics and the Wellcome Trust, which is now a prominent, annual, international meeting series.

Professor Aitman graduated in Physiology and Medicine from the University of Birmingham. He obtained a Masters in Biochemistry from the University of London and a DPhil from the University of Oxford, studying the molecular genetics of type 1 diabetes.

He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) and of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) and is also a trustee of the PHG Foundation.

He enjoys sailing, playing the piano or flute, and social bridge.