Dame Bridget Margaret Ogilvie

Eminent scientist Dame Bridget Ogilvie AC DBE FAA FRS (b. 1938) completed her undergraduate degree at the University of New England, graduating with the University Medal in 1960. She was awarded a scholarship that funded postgraduate study at Cambridge, where she completed her PhD in 1964. She was then awarded a fellowship with the UK's National Institute for Medical Research and contributed substantially to the discovery of an enzyme in sheep and cattle that has been critical to efforts in the control of nematodes (intestinal parasites) in livestock. She gained her DSc from Cambridge in 1981. That year she became coordinator of the Tropical Medicine Program at the Wellcome Trust, of which she was Director from 1991 until her retirement in 1998. During her time as Director, the Trust expanded tropical medicine research in Africa and the Asia-Pacific, and established the Sanger Institute, a leading player in sequencing of the human genome. A leading proponent of the necessity of communicating scientific discoveries to non-science audiences, she has served on the boards of many organisations including Cancer Research UK and AstraZeneca. Among her many scientific and civilian honours are 25 honorary doctorates, a DBE (2006) and an AC (2007).

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