Professor Paul Elliott elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society

Imperial experts in medicine, maths and engineering have been announced as new Fellows of the Royal Society. We are thrilled to announce that Professor Paul Elliott is one of the elected Fellows for this prestigious recognition.

The seven Imperial researchers elected as Fellows this year are drawn from fields including public health, infectious disease, civil engineering, neuroscience and maths. They join more than 70 members of staff at Imperial College London able to use the prestigious ‘FRS’ suffix in their titles.Fellowships are given to distinguished scientists by the Royal Society in recognition of “contributions to science, both in fundamental research resulting in greater understanding, and also in leading and directing scientific and technological progress in industry and research establishments”.

“Impact, innovation, and scientific imagination are Imperial’s DNA. I’m incredibly proud of all seven of our researchers whose achievements have been recognised by the Royal Society today.”Professor Ian WalmsleyProvost of Imperial College London

This year over 90 exceptional researchers from across the world have been elected as Fellows, including one of the Nobel Prize-winning pair who discovered CRISPR, Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier, and former Chief Scientific Advisor to the US President, Professor Anthony Fauci.

Professor Paul Elliott

Professor Elliott is Chair in Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine within Imperial’s School of Public Health. His work focuses on the study of disease in populations, using large cohort studies to gain insights into the drivers, prevalence and distribution of disease in populations. He is also Director of the MRC Centre for Environment and Health, the UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) and the REACT community surveillance study of COVID-19 across England.

His work has helped to understand the role of salt intake in high blood pressure, explore potential links between mobile phone use and cancer, track the prevalence of COVID-19 during the pandemic and the lasting impact of Long COVID. He was recognised with the award of a CBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to scientific research in public health.

Prof. Elliot said: “It’s an honour to be elected to the Royal Society Fellowship. As scientists we are in the privileged position of being able to seek answers to some of the most interesting and difficult questions. In the area of public health research, the answers we find may ultimately help to inform people’s life and health choices. So to spend your career in this field and gain recognition for your contributions is truly humbling.”

President of the Royal Society, Sir Adrian Smith, said: “I am pleased to welcome such an outstanding group into the Fellowship of the Royal Society. This new cohort have already made significant contributions to our understanding of the world around us and continue to push the boundaries of possibility in academic research and industry.