Susan Hopkins CBE is an Irish epidemiologist and civil servant working in the UK. She is honorary clinical senior lecturer in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London,[1] and Chief Medical Advisor for the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Career
editHopkins studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin and trained in infectious diseases, microbiology and epidemiology in Ireland, France and the UK. In 2006 she was appointed a consultant in infectious diseases and microbiology at the Royal Free Hospital. She became Clinical Director of Infection Services at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, and Deputy Director of the National Infection Service at Public Health England.[2]
In 2018 she was called as a witness by the Health and Social Care Committee on antimicrobial resistance.[3]
In January 2020 Hopkins was appointed Incident Director within Public Health England's COVID-19 incident response. In August 2021 she was appointed Interim Chief Medical Advisor at NHS Test and Trace and the Strategic Response Director for COVID-19 at Public Health England.[2]
In November 2021 Hopkins raised concerns about the new B.1.1.529 variant, later named the omicron variant, of COVID-19.[4] In December 2021 she warned that further restrictions may be needed to tackle an "inevitable" and "big wave of infections".[5]
Awards
editIn December 2021 Hopkins was awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award by Michael D. Higgins.[6]
In May 2022, she was awarded as Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), for services to Public Health.[7]
References
edit- ^ "Dr Susan Hopkins". Imperial College London. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Dr Susan Hopkins". Infection Prevention Society. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ "Minister questioned on Government's antimicrobial resistance strategy". 11 September 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ Haroon Siddique (26 November 2021). "B.1.1.529 Covid variant 'most worrying we've seen', says top UK medical adviser". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ Lamiat Sabin (12 December 2021). "More Covid measures may be needed in face of omicron, government medical adviser warns". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ "Susan Hopkins awarded the Irish government's Presidential Distinguished Service Award". GOV.UK. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
- ^ "Honorary Awards to Foreign Nationals in 2022". Gov.UK. 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.