Professor Alison Holmes OBE FMedSci appointed as David Price Evans Chair in Global Health and Infectious Diseases

Professor Alison Holmes OBE FMedSci, has been appointed as the David Price Evans Chair in Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of Liverpool.

Alison has longstanding collaborations with Liverpool colleagues and previous ties with the University, serving on external advisory panels. She will be developing the David Evans Price Global Health and Infectious Diseases research group, with a focus on antimicrobial optimisation and the prevention and management of infectious diseases. Alison also has a variety of International, European and National roles. She is the current President of the International Society of Infectious Diseases (ISID), Director of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit and Centre for Antimicrobial Optimisation at Imperial College London, and an NIHR Senior Investigator.

Commenting on her new role, Professor Holmes said: “I am so delighted and proud to be joining the University of Liverpool.  I have already been struck by the vibrancy and friendliness of the University, and also by its mission and commitment to address many of the great challenges facing the world today, including antimicrobial resistance. It will be a privilege for me to honour the legacy of Professor Price Evans through this appointment, and through the development of the David Price Evans Infectious Diseases & Global Health Group, which will be contributing to the University’s existing academic activity and developing some new initiatives. I am looking forward to working more closely with those colleagues who I have collaborated with in the past, as well as having the opportunity to develop exciting new collaborations here.”

Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Professor Louise Kenny said: “I am delighted to welcome Professor Holmes to the University of Liverpool. Alison is a globally leading clinical academic who has pioneered in the field of infectious diseases. Her experience in global health and her commitment to preventing antimicrobial resistance compliments the University’s international lead in these areas of huge strategic importance. Alison’s appointment underscores our commitment to supporting excellence in global health research with clinical impact.”

Professor David Price Evans

The Chair position is named after the late Emeritus Professor David Price Evans was Head of Medicine at the University of Liverpool from 1968 until 1983 and Chair of Medicine from 1972 to 1983.

Professor Evans left to become Director of Medicine at the Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital in Saudi Arabia, a position he held for 25 years, before returning to the UK. Born in Birkenhead, he grew up in various locations in North Wales in a proudly welsh-speaking family. He entered the University to read medicine in 1945 and a brilliant undergraduate career followed. After graduating, he served in the Army for two years with the Royal Medical Corps, before embarking on an eminent medical career.

Professor Price Evans's research brought him a central role in the development of the field of pharmacogenetics, which, anticipating the advent of 'personalised medicine', works from the idea that individual people react to drugs differently depending on their genetic constitution. His income from Medicine was also supplemented by success as a farmer in Wales. Professor Price Evans gifted to the University the funding to endow two Chairs in Medicine; the David Price Evans Chair of Medicine and the Owen and Ellen Evans Chair of Cancer Studies (later the Owen and Ellen Evans Chair of Surgery), named in memory of his parents. Professor Price Evans died aged 92 on 29 August 2019, leaving a significant bequest to the University in his will.