Members of the GACS
Details of the membership of the General Advisory Committee on Science (GACS).
The GACS comprises 15 independent members:
- an independent Chair of the GACS
- the Chairs of the eight scientific advisory committees (SACs) that advise the Agency (who are GACS members in an ex officio capacity)
- four additional independent expert members
- two lay members
In addition, the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) attends GACS meetings as an invited observer.
The current members of the GACS are:
Professor Colin Blakemore (Chair)
Professor Blakemore, FMedSci, Hon FSB, Hon FRCP, FRS, studied Medical Sciences at Cambridge and completed his PhD at the University of California in Berkeley. After 11 years in the Department of Physiology at Cambridge University, he became Waynflete Professor of Physiology at Oxford University from 1979 to 2007. From 1996 to 2003, he was Director of the MRC Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience at Oxford. His research has been concerned with many aspects of vision, early development of the brain and plasticity of the cerebral cortex. He was Chief Executive of the MRC from 2003 to 2007 and is now Professor of Neuroscience at Oxford, an Honorary Professor at Warwick and Emeritus Professor at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore. He has been President of the British Neuroscience Association, the Physiological Society and the Biosciences Federation (now the Society of Biology).
Professor Blakemore was President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (now the British Science Association) from 1997 to 1998 and Chairman from 2001 to 2004. He is committed to promoting dialogue between scientists and the public, and is a frequent contributor to radio and TV, including the 13-part BBC2 series The Mind Machine. His books for the general public include Mechanics of the Mind (which won the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science), Images and Understanding, Mindwaves, The Mind Machine, Gender and Society and The Oxford Companion to the Body.
Dr Ian Brown OBE (ex officio member as Chair of the Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs, ACAF)
Dr Brown is a medically qualified registered specialist in occupational medicine and toxicology. He is also a graduate in agricultural biochemistry and nutrition and has a wide range of knowledge and experience covering occupational health, toxicology, agriculture and food safety. Dr Brown was formerly a Consultant Physician in Occupational Medicine and Toxicology at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust and is now Director of Occupational Health at the University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant Physician. He is also Chair of the Pesticide Residues Committee and a member of the Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances of the Health and Safety Executive Board. From 1999 to 2005 Dr Brown was a member of ACAF, and from May 2001 until May 2002 served as the Acting Chair, following the unexpected resignation of the Chair, at that time.
Professor Sarah O'Brien (ex officio member as Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food, ACMSF)
Professor O’Brien is currently Professor of Health Sciences and Epidemiology and a Consultant in Public Health Medicine at the University of Manchester. Her research interests include foodborne zoonoses. Previously she was Head of Gastrointestinal Diseases Division at the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, where she was responsible for assessing data and generating, through surveillance and research, the evidence base for the origins and spread of gastrointestinal infection. She has published widely on these subjects. She has held a number of hospital and health authority appointments and also lectured in public health medicine between 1986 and 1995. She was Consultant in Public Health Medicine at the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health between 1995 and 1998 before joining the Health Protection Agency. Additionally, Professor O’Brien is a member of the Food Standards Agency's Epidemiology of Foodborne Infections Group. Following her role as acting Chair in 2006, she was appointed as Chair to ACMSF in February 2007.
Professor Peter Gregory (ex officio member as Chair of the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, ACNFP)
Professor Gregory is the Chief Executive of East Malling Research and Professor of Global Food Security at the University of Reading. He was Chief Executive and Institute Director of the Scottish Crop Research Institute located near Dundee up until March 2011. His research interests include aspects of food systems and food security with a particular emphasis on environmental change (climate change). He has spent most of his career at the University of Reading undertaking research on the interactions of plant roots with soils, and has worked extensively oversees in Australia, Syria, Nepal and Kenya on various projects seeking to increase crop production. He is a member of the Scottish Science Advisory Council.
Professor David Coggon (ex officio member as Chair of the Committee on Toxicity, COT)
Professor Coggon OBE is Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Southampton where he works in the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit. He has been engaged in epidemiological research for more than 30 years, concentrating mainly on occupational and environmental causes of disease. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and from 2008 to 2011 was President of its Faculty of Occupational Medicine. In 1998, he became a founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. From 1998 to 2000 he served on the COT Working Group on Organophosphates and the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (both Department of Health). He has also been a member of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (Department Work and Pensions), the Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (Department Environment Transport in the Regions), the Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation (Health Protection Agency), the Plant Protection Products and Residues Panel at the European Food Safety Authority and an expert adviser for the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. From 2000 to 2005 he was Chair of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (Defra), and from 2001 to 2007 he chaired the Depleted Uranium Oversight Board (Ministry of Defence).
Professor David Phillips (ex officio member as Chair of the Committee on Carcinogenicity, COC)
Professor Phillips was appointed as a member of the COC in April 2000 and as Chairman in April 2006 (reappointed in 2010 for a second term). He is also a member of COM. He is head of a research team at the Institute of Cancer Research and has internationally recognised expertise in carcinogen-DNA interactions, human biomonitoring and in molecular epidemiology. He has extensive research interests in mechanisms of carcinogenesis, with particular emphasis on environmental factors involved in cancer causation. He is editor-in-chief of the journal Mutagenesis and will be President of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society from 2010 to 2012.
Professor Peter Farmer (ex officio member as Chair of the Committee on Mutagenicity, COM)
Professor Farmer is Professor of Cancer Biomarkers, Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine, Biocentre, University of Leicester. He was appointed as Chair of COM in November 2001 and is also a member of COC. His main research interests are in the investigation and use of chemical induced DNA and protein adducts in carcinogen/mutagen risk assessment and the development of biomarkers for cancer risk assessments. He has an international reputation in this area and is involved in several European Union collaborative research activities. Professor Farmer has been reappointed for a final four-year term as Chair of COM.
Professor Peter Jackson (ex officio member as Chair of the Social Science Research Committee, SSRC)
Professor Jackson is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sheffield. From 2004 to 2007 Peter served as Director of Research for the Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. From 2005 to 2008 he led an interdisciplinary programme on ‘Changing Families, Changing Food’ funded by the Leverhulme Trust. He is currently directing a programme on consumer anxieties about food (CONANX), funded by the European Research Council. He also serves on the Training and Skills Committee of the Economic and Social Research Council and on the Research Board of the British Library.
Professor Janet M Bainbridge OBE (expert member and Deputy Chair of GACS)
A Professor of Biotechnology and Food Science, Janet is a former Dean of Science and Technology at the University of Teesside. She currently delivers a portfolio of consultancy and non-executive roles. She was a senior specialist adviser (Government and Europe) to One Northeast from 2003 to 2007 and is currently Chair of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Scientific Advisory Committee on Genetic Modification (Contained Use), a member of the Borderline Substances review group (MHRA); the New and Emerging Infections Panel and a trustee of the charity Sense About Science. Currently Professor Bainbridge is employed by UK Trade and Invest as a part-time global R&D specialist. From 2006 to 2008, she was a Board member of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and chaired the R&D sub-group of that Board as designate Chair of the Potato Council Limited. She has recently been appointed to the BBSRC Sustainable Agriculture Panel. Former appointments include Chair of the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP; 1997 to 2003), Member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Council, member of the Advisory Committee on releases to the Environment (ACRE); member of the Chief Scientists GM Expert Group and Chair/member of several Foresight Committees.
Professor Anne Murcott (expert member)
Professor Murcott is Honorary Visiting Professor at City University in London, Professor Emerita in Sociology at London South Bank University, Special Professor in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham and Appointed Professorial Research Associate at the Food Studies Centre, School of Oriental & African Studies in the University of London. She is a past Honorary Professor in Sociology at the University of Leicester and in 2009 was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the University of Uppsala. Her research includes pioneering work in the sociology of food, a field in which she has been active nationally and internationally for 25 years. She is the author of numerous articles, has edited and co-authored half a dozen books, and served as editor of The Sociology of Health & Illness. From 1992 to 1998 she was Director of the ESRC Research Programme The Nation’s Diet: the social science of food choice. A member of the Food Standards Agency Advisory Committee on Research from 2002 to 2007, she served as a member of the Steering Panel for the Government Office for Science’s Review of the Food Standards Agency 2008 to 2009 and as Chair of the Review Panel of the Independent Review of the Controls on Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula, 2008 to 2010.
Professor Duncan Maskell (expert member)
Professor Maskell has been Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine since 2004 and Professor of Farm Animal Health, Food Science and Food Safety since 1996 at the University of Cambridge. He leads a research group working on all aspects of bacterial diseases with particular emphasis on the major foodborne pathogens Salmonella and Campylobacter. He was a Member of the BBSRC Agri-food Committee from 1997 to 2003, and its Chair from 2000 to 2003, and a member of the Food Standards Agency Advisory Committee on Research from 2002 to 2007. Professor Maskell is a non-executive Director of the Moredun Research Institute. He has recently been elected as a Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences.
Mrs Pamela Goldberg (lay member)
Mrs Goldberg was Chief Executive of the medical research charity Breast Cancer Campaign, from 1997 to June 2011. She was involved in establishing the charity's first Scientific Advisory Board and developing its first research strategy as well as setting up governance guidelines for the Trustee Board. She is committed to ensuring that patients and the general public are given information that is evidence-based and that scientific results are communicated effectively to the general public.
She is a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce); a Trustee of the Moorfields Eye Charity; a Member of the Human Tissue Authority and a member of the Independent Review Panel for Borderline Products (IRPBP) and Independent Review Panel for Advertising (IRPA) for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Mrs Leen Petré (lay member)
Mrs Petré is Principal Manager of the Media and Culture Department at the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). Before that she was RNIB's European Campaigns Manager (2000 to 2004). Leen holds a degree in Political and Social Sciences and an MA in European Studies from the University of Leuven. After graduating, Leen built up 10 years of work on a range of international and European consumer issues, including food standards.
Since 2005, Mrs Petré has been Chair of the Consumer expert group on digital switchover (appointed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, DCMS) and consumer representative on the DCMS/BIS Ministerial group on digital switchover. Leen is a member of the Communications Consumer Panel and Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce).
Vacancy (expert member)
A register of GACS members' interests is available below.
More information on other scientific committees can be found at the link below.
- Scientific committees
The expert groups that advise the Agency on scientific issues - GACS register of interests: November 2011
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