Sir John Pattison

Sir John Ridley Pattison was brought up in County Durham, and educated at Barnard Castle School. From there he progressed to the University of Oxford, taking both a BA and BSc at University College, before joining the Middlesex Medical School.

In 1975 he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Virology at London Hospital Medical College at St Bartholomew's Medical School, leaving in 1977 to become Professor of medical Microbiology at King's College Hospital Medical School. He held this post until 1984 when he became Professor of Medical Microbiology at University College London Medical School, before becoming Dean of the School (1990-1996), and later Vice-Provost (1994-1999).

Sir John left University College London in 1999 to become Head of Research and Development in the National Health Service. This role included a specific responsibility for genetics.

Between 1995 and 1999, he was chairman of the Government's advisory committee on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), providing guidance on the link between BSE and Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease, amongst other things.

During his career he has also been a prominent member of the Medical Research Council, editor-in-chief of the Journal Epidemiology and Infection (1980-1994), and Deputy Chairman of the King's Fund Management Committee (1993-1999).

In retirement he has continued his involvement with medicine. This has included chairing the UK Stem Cell Initiative.

He was knighted in 1998 for services to medicine.

Abbreviations used in the catalogue:

BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation

BSE - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

CJD - Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease

CSM - Committe on the Safety of Medicines

EAE - Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis/Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis

MAFF - Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

NVCJD - New Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease

SEAC - Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee

TSE - Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy

The following is an interim description of material that has been acquired since this collection was catalogued. This description may change when cataloguing takes place in future:

1 file and 1 digital document received in May 2012 (acc. 1904), consisting of Sir John Pattison's memoir of his time as an NHS advisor, "The Whitehall Years", along with supporting documentation. The memoir is in digital form, the supporting documentation is paper.