Cambridge University Reporter


Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Professorship of Infectious Disease Informatics

The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. Infectious diseases of man and animals are a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and the emergence of new disease agents from animal reservoirs, or as a result of mutation, constitutes a global threat. The appearance of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, and new variants of Avian Influenza are well-documented examples. Advances in technology allow the rapid accumulation of data describing the genomes of infectious agents, their antigenic variation, and the structure of those molecules that contribute to virulence, host range, and pathogenicity. A major challenge is to apply appropriate mathematical methods that increase the predictive capacity of these different types of data. In combination with our improved understanding of the immune response of individuals and populations, these analyses should offer the prospect of predicting and quantifying the threat presented by emerging infectious agents and of identifying appropriate control strategies, the ultimate objective of research on infectious disease.

2. Members of the Schools of the Biological Sciences and Clinical Medicine, together with colleagues from the Sanger Institute, have formed a group (the Cambridge Infectious Disease Consortium) to consider the expertise in Cambridge in relation to infectious disease research, and to identify areas that should be strengthened. The application of computational methods to the analysis of increasingly complex datasets is identified as a priority.

3. The Council of the School of the Biological Sciences has therefore recommended the establishment of a Professorship of Infectious Disease Informatics to create a focus for the computational biology of infectious disease in the Schools of Biology and Clinical Medicine and to strengthen links with cognate research in the Schools of the Physical Sciences and the Humanities and Social Sciences. Funding for the post has been identified within existing resources allocated to the School of the Biological Sciences; the person appointed will undertake research and teaching within the relevant Departments of the School.

4. The General Board are satisfied that an appointment at this level will be likely to attract a strong field of applicants. They are assured by the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences, who have undertaken to provide the necessary support and facilities, that suitable accommodation is available in the School for the Professor. The General Board have agreed that election to the Professorship should be made by a specially constituted Board of Electors, in accordance with Statute D, XV, 5, and that candidature should be open to all persons whose work falls within the general field of the title of the office.

5. The General Board recommend:

That a Professorship of Infectious Disease Informatics be established in the University, for a single tenure with effect from 1 January 2007 and placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, to be assigned to a Department in the School of the Biological Sciences once the research interests of the person elected to the Professorship are known.

18 October 2006 ALISON RICHARD, Vice-Chancellor RICHARD FRIEND MELVEENA MCKENDRICK
 JOHN BELL JACOB HEAD ROGER PARKER
 TOM BLUNDELL RICHARD HUNTER J. P. SISSONS
 WILLIAM BROWN D. W. B. MACDONALD I. H. WHITE
 M. J. DAUNTON