Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell DBE
Campaign and External Relations Ambassador and Emeritus Professor of Physiology, University of Manchester
Speaker's biography
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell was President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester from 2010 to 2024. She has been chair of the Russell Group of Universities, co-Chair of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, a non-executive director of AstraZeneca, including chair of the Board’s science committee, a member or chair of many funding boards at MRC, BBSRC and Wellcome, member of council of MRC, CRUK and the Royal Society, member of Health Innovation Manchester, member of the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Council and UK Investment Council.
She has led a major interdisciplinary research group, trained over 50 PhD students including many clinicians. Her research identified the role of inflammation in neurological disease and is now seeking to understand the causes of brain damage in diverse diseases and develop new diagnostics and treatments.
She is currently Campaign and External Relations Ambassador for the University of Manchester, Global Ambassador for Health Innovation Manchester, a member of Councils of the Royal Society and Cancer Research UK.