Imperial is pleased to announce the title of Regius Professor of Infectious Disease has been conferred on Professor Wendy Barclay with immediate effect. She has been appointed in succession to the first holder of the Regius Professorship, Emeritus Professor David Holden.
Professor Barclay’s appointment as a Regius Professor is made in recognition of the outstanding contribution that she has made to our understanding of respiratory viruses, and in particular to our understanding of influenza and SARS-CoV-2.
She joined Imperial in 2007 as Chair in Influenza Virology and became Action Medical Research Professor of Virology in 2017. She has been the Head of Department of Infectious Disease in the Faculty of Medicine since 2019. Under her leadership, the Department received an Athena SWAN Silver Award in May 2021.
Professor Barclay has an exceptional international reputation as a virologist and is acclaimed for the world-leading quality of her research. Her seminal work on influenza has resulted in breakthrough discoveries that have changed the field. She made a vital contribution to the UK’s response to COVID, a contribution that was justly recognised by the award of a CBE in 2022, and was key member of the Imperial College London COVID Response Team that received the Queens’ Anniversary Prize in 2022.
She was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2019. In 2022, Professor Barclay was awarded the Microbiology Society Prize Medal, and in 2023 she was awarded the Belfast University Barcroft Medal. In 2024 she received the University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research Sir Michael Stoker Award 2024 and was elected Fellow of the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2024.
Professor Barclay’s expertise is in the field of respiratory viruses, in particular influenza viruses, aiming to understand the molecular and cellular basis of the pathogenesis, host range restrictions and transmissibility of influenza viruses.