Peter Horby Explained

Birth Name:Peter William Horby
Honorific Prefix:Sir
Peter Horby
Alma Mater:University College London (MBBS)
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (PhD)
Workplaces:University of Oxford
Thesis Title:Avian, inter-pandemic, and pandemic influenza in Vietnam
Thesis Url:https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/1236302/9/2012_PhD_Horby.pdf
Doctoral Advisor:Neal Alexander

Sir Peter William Horby is a British physician, epidemiologist, Moh Family Foundation Professor of Emerging Infections and Global Health, and Director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford. He is the founder, and former director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Hanoi, Vietnam which was founded in 2006. In 2014, Horby established the Epidemic Research Group Oxford (ERGO). ERGO incorporates a number of international projects such as the European Commission funded PREPARE, the African coaLition for Epidemic Research, Response and Training (ALERRT), and the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC). Since 2016, Horby has been chair and executive director of ISARIC.

Horby specialises in emerging and epidemic infectious diseases. He is the co-chief investigator of the RECOVERY Trial into drugs for COVID-19 (the largest clinical trial of COVID-19 in the world) alongside Martin Landray.[1] [2] [3] In June 2020, he gave a statement at 10 Downing Street alongside the Prime Minister and Chief Scientific Adviser announcing the first positive trial results of the first life-saving COVID-19 drug, Dexamethasone.[4] [5] He is the primary author on the published preliminary report.[6]

From 2020 to 2022, Horby was one of the attendees of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) [7] He is the chair of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG).[8] [7]

He was knighted in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to medical research and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2024.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ISRCTN - ISRCTN50189673: A randomised trial of treatments to prevent death in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 (coronavirus). 2020-09-06. www.isrctn.com. en.
  2. Web site: Large-scale trial for coronavirus drugs launches in UK . Clinical Trials Arena . 7 September 2020 . 6 April 2020.
  3. Web site: Managing clinical trials during the pandemic — Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences . www.ndorms.ox.ac.uk . 7 September 2020.
  4. Web site: Low-cost dexamethasone reduces death by up to one third in hospitalised patients with severe respiratory complications of COVID-19 University of Oxford. 2020-09-06. www.ox.ac.uk.
  5. Web site: Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 16 June 2020. 2020-09-06. GOV.UK. 16 June 2020 . en.
  6. Horby P, Lim WS, Emberson JR, Mafham M, Bell JL, Linsell L, Staplin N, Brightling C, Ustianowski A, Elmahi E, Prudon B, Green C, Felton T, Chadwick D, Rege K, Fegan C, Chappell LC, Faust SN, Jaki T, Jeffery K, Montgomery A, Rowan K, Juszczak E, Baillie JK, Haynes R, Landray MJ . 6 . Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19 - Preliminary Report . The New England Journal of Medicine . July 2020 . 384 . 8 . 693–704 . 32678530 . 7383595 . 10.1056/NEJMoa2021436 .
  7. News: Sample . Ian . Who's who on secret scientific group advising UK government? . 24 April 2020 . The Guardian . 24 April 2020.
  8. Web site: New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group. gov.uk. en. 24 April 2020.
  9. Web site: Sir Peter Horby Kt FMedSci FRS . 2024-05-20 . Royal Society . en.