Richard Sykes (microbiologist)

Sir Richard Brook Sykes FRS FMedSci HonFREng (born 7 August 1942) is a British microbiologist, the chair of the Royal Institution, the UK Stem Cell Foundation, and the trustees at King Edward VII's Hospital, and chancellor of Brunel University. As of June 2021, he is chair of the UK's Vaccine Taskforce, where he is responsible for overseeing the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, including preparations for booster programmes and encouraging vaccine innovation in the UK.

Sir

Richard Sykes

FRS FMedSci HonFREng
Born
Richard Brook Sykes

(1942-08-07) 7 August 1942
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England
Education
Alma mater
Known for
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Chair of the Vaccine Taskforce
Assumed office
2021

In 1972, after gaining a first class bachelor's degree and a doctorate, both in microbiology, Sykes was appointed head of the Antibiotic Resistance Unit at Glaxo, where he helped develop the antibiotic ceftazidime. Subsequently, he was recruited by the Squibb Institute, in the United States, where he then developed aztreonam, the first clinically effective monobactam, a term he coined in 1981 to describe a new group of monocyclic β-lactams produced by bacteria. He oversaw the merger of Glaxo with Wellcome, to form Glaxo-Wellcome in 1995 and became its chair two years later. He then oversaw the Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham merger and held its chair until 2001.

His other appointments have included being rector of Imperial College from 2001 to 2008, chairman of NHS London from December 2008 to July 2010, vice-chairman of Lonza Group until 2013, and chairman of Imperial College Healthcare from 2012 to 2018.

Early life and education

Richard Sykes was born in the outskirts of Huddersfield, in West Yorkshire, on 7 August 1942[1] to Eric Sykes and his wife Muriel Mary Sykes.[2][3] He attended Royds Hall Grammar school.[4] Prior to his A-levels and completing school, he took up a job as a technician in a pathology laboratory.[5] After leaving secondary school he attended Paddington Technical College and Chelsea College, and gained a place at Queen Elizabeth College where he was awarded a first class BSc degree in microbiology.[2] He received his doctorate in 1972 with a thesis on β-lactamases of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, from the University of Bristol, where he worked with Mark Richmond.[2][6] In 1973, together, they reported the first β-lactamase classification scheme.[7]

Glaxo and Squibb
GlaxoSmithKline Headquarters

In 1972, Sykes was appointed head of the Antibiotic Resistance Unit at Glaxo.[2][8] There, he helped develop the antibiotic ceftazidime.[9] In 1977 he left Glaxo and was recruited to the United States by the Squibb Institute for Medical Research, where he worked under George B. Mackaness, the Australian immunologist who played an important part in getting the first ACE inhibitor, captopril, licensed.[2][10] In 1979 Squibb appointed Sykes to lead research into monocyclic β-lactam antibiotics.[2][9] There, he isolated product SQ26.180 from Chromobacterium violaceum, a bacteria discovered at Pine Barrens.[11] By modifying the amide side chain and including a ceftazidime side chain, he produced aztreonam, the first monocyclic β-lactam antibiotic.[12][13] In 1981 he coined this new group of antibiotics "monobactam".[9][12] Its potential as a usefulness was published the following year.[14] It could treat gram-negative infections such as gonorrhoea and became the first monobactam to be licensed for clinical use.[9][12]

From 1983 to 1986 he was vice-president of infectious and metabolic diseases at Squibb.[2] He returned to Glaxo in 1987 and succeeded David Jack, almost 30 years after Glaxo acquired Allen & Hanburys.[15] The Harvard Business Review noted that at Glaxo, when a group of antibiotics failed in the last stages of clinical trial, Sykes praised the teams that had worked on them and encouraged them to move on.[8] In 1993 he received his DSc.[2]

In 1994, during his time at Glaxo, he was part of the group that founded the Jenner Institute for research into vaccines.[16][17][18] In 1995 he oversaw the merger of Glaxo with Wellcome, to form Glaxo-Wellcome.[15][19] In 1997, he became chair of Glaxo-Wellcome.[20] In 2000 he oversaw the Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham merger and held its chair until 2001.[20][21][22] The merger resulted in the marketing of several new drugs.[21] According to Sykes at the time, "the industry would be transformed by understanding the human genome".[21]

Royal Institution and others

Sykes was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1997.[23][24] In 1994 he became a trustee of the Natural History Museum, London,[2] and in 1997 he was appointed senior independent director of Rio Tinto plc, a position he held until 2008.[25]

He was a member of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education that published an influential report in 1997.[26]

Later career

Imperial

In January 2001, he was appointed rector of Imperial College London and completed his tenure in 2008.[27][28][29] At Imperial, he was involved in several controversial debates including on issues such as increasing tuition fees, which he favoured.[30] He criticised secondary schools for the quality of the science taught there, and opposed teaching grants being awarded on a per capita basis.[28][31] In 2002 he proposed to merge Imperial College with University College London.[32][33] The strength of opposition meant that it did not go through.[28] He supported the lifting of the £3,000 cap on tuition fees and instead allowing the universities to set their own fees.[32][34]

UK Stem Cell Foundation

Sykes chairs the UK Stem Cell Foundation.[25] It was established in 2005.[35][36][37]

Other roles

From 2003 to 2005 he was trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.[2] From 2007 to 2011 he was senior independent director and non-executive deputy chairman of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.[25][38] In September 2008, he was appointed chair of NHS London, but resigned in May 2010 over the decision of the Cameron Ministry to halt former health minister Ara Darzi's planned reorganisation of health care in London.[39][40]

Between 2010 and 2012 he was on the advisory board of the Virgin Group.[25] Until 2013, he was vice-chair at the Swiss life sciences company Lonza AG.[25][41] He was appointed chairman of the Royal Institution in 2010 and Imperial College Healthcare in 2012.[2] He was appointed Chancellor of Brunel University in 2013.[42] In 2020, Sykes stepped down as chairman of the NetScientific Group after serving it for nine years.[43]

Vaccine Taskforce

In 2020 he lead an independent review of the workings of the Vaccine Taskforce.[44][45] On 14 June 2021, Sykes was appointed chair of the Vaccine Taskforce, where he will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of the UK's COVID-19 vaccination programme, including preparations for booster programmes and encouraging vaccine innovation in the UK.[44]

Other activities

Sykes was chairman of the advisory panel of the think-tank Reform.[46] He is a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.[47] He is chair of the Trustees at King Edward VII's Hospital.[48]

Awards and honours

Sykes was knighted in the 1994 New Year Honours.[2][49]

He holds honorary degrees from several universities including Birmingham, Brunel, Cranfield, Edinburgh, Hertfordshire, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Madrid, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield Hallam, Sheffield, Strathclyde, Surrey, Warwick and Westminster. Sykes was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 1998.[50]

In 2009 he received the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy's Garrod Medal and delivered its accompanying lecture.[51] It was titled "The evolution of antimicrobial resistance: a Darwinian perspective" and was published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy in 2010.[52]

Selected publications

Articles

Books

Reports

References
  1. Connon, Heather (20 June 2004). "Imperial boss measures up money men". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  2. Who's Who 2018 (170th ed.). London: Bloomsbury Publishing. 2018. p. 2380. ISBN 978-1-472-93501-4.
  3. Wong, John (6 July 2015) Citation by professor John Wong. National University of Singapore. Honorary degree of science recipient
  4. Fletcher, Winston (2003). "1. Sir Richard Sykes FRS". Beating the 24/7: How Business Leaders Achieve a Successful Work/Life Balance. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 31–40. ISBN 0-470-84762-X.
  5. Lawrence, Rebecca N. (15 June 2002). "Sir Richard Sykes contemplates the future of the pharma industry. Interview by Rebecca N Lawrence". Drug Discovery Today. 7 (12): 645–648. doi:10.1016/s1359-6446(02)02305-x. ISSN 1359-6446. PMID 12110238.
  6. Sykes, Richard (September 2010). "The 2009 Garrod lecture: the evolution of antimicrobial resistance: a Darwinian perspective". The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 65 (9): 1842–1852. doi:10.1093/jac/dkq217. ISSN 1460-2091. PMID 20573657.
  7. Cooksey, Robert C. (1998). "13. Mechanisms of resistance to antibacterial agents". In Bittar, Edward (ed.). Microbiology. Greenwich, Connecticut: Elsevier. p. 207. ISBN 1-55938-814-5.
  8. Goffee, Rob; Jones, Gareth (March 2007). "Leading clever people". Harvard Business Review. 85 (3): 72–79, 142. ISSN 0017-8012. PMID 17348171.
  9. Greenwood, David (2008). "4. Wonder drugs". Antimicrobial Drugs: Chronicle of a Twentieth Century Medical Triumph. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-19-953484-5.
  10. Carter, P. B. (2014). "George Bellamy Mackaness. 20 August 1922 — 4 March 2007". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 60: 294. doi:10.1098/RSBM.2014.0017. S2CID 71237348.
  11. Sacharow, Fredda (13 June 1982). "Swamp yields a new antibiotic". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  12. Stromgaard, Kristian; Krogsgaard-Larsen, Povl; Madsen, Ulf (2009). Textbook of Drug Design and Discovery. CRC Press. p. 429. ISBN 978-1-4200-6322-6.
  13. Sneader, Walter (2005). "23. Antibiotic analogues". Drug Discovery: A History. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-471-89979-2.
  14. Fisher, Jed (2012). "2. B-Lactams resistant to hydrolysis by the b-lactamases". In Bryan, L. (ed.). Antimicrobial Drug Resistance. Orlando: Academic press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-12-138120-2.
  15. Ravenscraft, David J.; Long, William F. (2007). "Paths to creating value in pharmaceutical mergers". In Kaplan, Steven N. (ed.). Mergers and Productivity. University of Chicago Press. pp. 306–310. ISBN 978-0-226-42431-6.
  16. MRC Annual Report. Medical Research Council. 1994. p. 26.
  17. "The Vaccine Taskforce: objectives and membership of steering group" (PDF). GOV.UK. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  18. Dickson, David (1 December 1998). "Research trio to develop new vaccines". Nature Medicine. 4 (12): 1349. doi:10.1038/3927. ISSN 1546-170X. PMID 9846561. S2CID 33610131.
  19. Brier, Jennifer (2009). Infectious Ideas: U.S. Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis. University of North Carolina Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-8078-3314-8.
  20. Gay, Hannah; Scientific (Firm), World (2013). The Silwood Circle: A History of Ecology and the Making of Scientific Careers in Late Twentieth-Century Britain. World Scientific. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-84816-991-3.
  21. Rugman, Alan M. (2005). The Regional Multinationals: MNEs and 'Global' Strategic Management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-521-84265-4.
  22. Fuller, Steve (2009). "1. Introduction: the place of intellectual life". The Sociology of Intellectual Life: The Career of the Mind in and Around Academy. Los Angeles: SAGE. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-4129-2838-0.
  23. "Richard Sykes | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  24. "Library and Archive Catalogue EC/1997/33 Sir Richard Brook". London: The Royal Society.
  25. "Sir Richard Sykes (1942–)". www.rigb.org.
  26. "Higher Education in the learning society: Main Report". Education England. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  27. Heaman, Elsbeth (2003). "14. Science and strategy; the merger with Imperial College". St Mary's: The History of a London Teaching Hospital. Montreal: Liverpool University Press. p. 417. ISBN 0-85323-968-1.
  28. "Richard Sykes" (PDF). Imperial College London. London: Imperial College. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  29. Evatt, M. A. C.; Brodhurst, E. K. (2002). Sharing Experience in Engineering Design (SEED 2002). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-86058-397-1.
  30. "A Rector to remember". Imperial Matters: Alumni Magazine (32): 10–13. 2008.
  31. Gay, Hannah (2007). "15. The expanding college, 1985-2001...Part 1: Governance and the medical school mergers". History Of Imperial College London, 1907–2007, The: Higher Education And Research In Science, Technology And Medicine. London: Imperial College Press. p. 604. ISBN 978-1-86094-708-7.
  32. Harte, Negley; North, John; Brewis, Georgina (21 May 2018). The World of UCL. UCL Press. ISBN 9781787352933.
  33. "Opposition ends Imperial and UCL merger dream". The Guardian. 18 November 2002. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  34. The future sustainability of the higher education sector: international aspects, eighth report of session 2006–07, Vol. 2: Oral and written evidence. The Stationery Office. 2007. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-215-03600-1.
  35. Devaney, Sarah (2013). Stem Cell Research and the Collaborative Regulation of Innovation. Abingdon, Oxford: Routledge. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-415-52130-7.
  36. "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 7 Mar 2005 (pt 29)". publications.parliament.uk. Parliament.co.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  37. Furcht, Leo; Hoffman, William (2011). The Stem Cell Dilemma: The Scientific Breakthroughs, Ethical Concerns, Political Tensions, and Hope Surrounding Stem Cell Research (in Dutch). Simon and Schuster. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-62872-181-2.
  38. Bawden, Tom (10 June 2011). "Sir Richard Sykes: voted out, but not down". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  39. Randeep Ramesh (26 May 2010). "NHS London chief Richard Sykes resigns in care review row". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  40. Wise, Jacqui (5 June 2010). "BMJ News" (PDF). British Medical Journal. 340: 1216–1217.
  41. ENRC Management Archived 28 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  42. Sir Richard Sykes appointed Chancellor of Brunel University Archived 14 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  43. "Board Changes". NetScientific. 31 March 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  44. "Sir Richard Sykes appointed chair of Vaccine Taskforce". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 13 September 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  45. "UK COVID-19 Update: Nurse Gives 'Historic' Jab, Oxford Vaccine Phase 3 Results". Medscape. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  46. "Tax cuts, yes, but first reform public services. Daily Telegraph 3 September 2006".
  47. "Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering". Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  48. "Our Team". King Edward VII's Hospital. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  49. Sir Richard Sykes DSc – 1994 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  50. Fellow Sir Richard Sykes FRS FMedSci – website of the Academy of Medical Sciences
  51. "Garrod Lecture & Medal". The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2021. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  52. Sykes, R. (1 September 2010). "The 2009 Garrod Lecture: The evolution of antimicrobial resistance: a Darwinian perspective". Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 65 (9): 1842–1852. doi:10.1093/jac/dkq217. PMID 20573657.
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