Professor Fiona Tomley.

The Manchester academic receives the honour for services to animal health.

Professor Fiona Tomley, professor of Experimental Parasitology at the RVC, and director of the UKRI GCRF One Health Poultry Hub, has been awarded the title of CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Over the course of her career, Professor Tomley has published over 140 scientific papers, and has secured over £40 million of grant funding for the RVC and other partners. 

Professor Tomley completed her PhD in 1980 at The University of Manchester, and is now a leading academic there, studying bacteriology and virology. She has consistently championed a One Health approach to her work, which is a perspective of health that recognises the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and the shared environment.

She was appointed director of the One Health Poultry Hub in 2019 as a part of her One Health approach, and she has conducted research programmes seeking to understand, detect, and reduce the risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases from chickens to humans. 

Fiona's work focuses on the production of chicken meat and eggs, considering and discovering ways in which to support this production in a safer and more sustainable manner. She particularly considers South and Southeast Asia in regard to this.

Leading over 200 researchers in 27 partner institutions across 10 countries, these efforts enable the Hub team to track the movements of chicken and people, collect samples, generate knowledge, and target intervention strategies to help reduce the impact of the spread of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance on people. 

Responding to her honour, Professor Tomley said: “I am both surprised and thrilled at this news. I always felt lucky to be born into a generation with access to state-supported University education, and to have parents who encouraged me to pursue a dream of ‘doing science’ when many women from a similar background were actively deterred from having careers. 

“The past year has once again highlighted that understanding the root causes, detection, prevention and treatment of infectious disease is critically important. I hope this will stimulate the next generation of women, and men, to pursue the most exciting, challenging and rewarding of careers.”

Principal of the RVC, Professor Stuart Reid, commented on Fiona's honour: “I am absolutely delighted that Professor Tomley has been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Her contribution to the sector has been, and continues to be, outstanding. I can think of no more fitting accolade or more deserving individual.

“As a researcher, mentor and leader, Fiona is a role model for all young academics but particularly for women in science. It is a privilege to work with her and this award is great news for her discipline, for the RVC, but most of all, for Fiona and those closest to her.”

The award will be announced by the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood on 12 June 2021.

Image (C) RVC