Two Oxford Martin School academics have been elected as Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Professor Andrew Pollard, Lead Researcher on the Oxford Martin Programme on Collective Responsibility for Infectious Disease and former Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Vaccines, and Professor Martin Maiden, also a former Co-Director of the Vaccines programme and now an Oxford Martin Senior Fellow, will be formally admitted to the Academy in a ceremony later this month.

The Academy is the independent body in the UK that represents the diverse spectrum of medical science – from basic research through clinical application to healthcare delivery. Its mission is to promote medical science and its translation into benefits for society.

Professor Pollard is currently working on clinical trials of new and improved vaccines for children, invasive bacterial diseases in children in Nepal, studies of cellular and humoral immune responses to glycoconjugate vaccines, and development of a serogroup B meningococcal vaccine. He said he was delighted and honoured to be elected to the Academy, and looked forward to "working with the colleagues in the Academy to promote excellence in research to defend child health”.

Professor Maiden, who studies the population biology and evolution of bacterial pathogens, aiming to translate the insights obtained into benefits for human health, said: "I am delighted with this recognition of the work of my group on the translation of molecular approaches to public health microbiology and epidemiology over the past 30 years. This work has, in particular, had substantial impact on meningococcal meningitis and campylobacteriosis in the UK and internationally."

Professor Maiden was also recently elected to the American Academy of Microbiology, in recognition of his scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology.