Peter Kennedy
 
 
 
 

Prof. Peter Kennedy,

Has held the Burton Chair of Neurology at the University of Glasgow since 1987, one of the youngest doctors ever chosen to lead a Neurology department in the UK, since when he has also been Consultant Neurologist at the Institute of Neurological Sciences in the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. Trained in medicine at University College London  and in Clinical Neurology at the National Hospital, Queen Square, London, he was then a Visiting Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA before becoming a Senior Lecturer in Neurology and Virology in Glasgow University.  He was Head of the Division of Clinical Neurosciences at Glasgow University 2003-10, Chairman of the EFNS Scientist Panel on Infections and AIDS 2000-7, and President of the International Society for Neurovirology (ISNV) 2004-10. His particular research areas are in Neurovirology, especially Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV) infection of the nervous system and, more recently, human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) in sub-Saharan Africa. The latter work  has involved frequent research visits to the African field, and, using a well-established mouse model, his group has developed a novel oral form of the toxic intravenous drug melarsoprol for late-stage (CNS) disease. He also  wrote an award winning popular science book on this subject called 'The Fatal Sleep'.
He holds the degrees of MD, PhD and DSc, from London University and is a fellow of both the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci). He also holds two Masters degrees in Philosophy (M.Phil,M.Litt). He is also a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Pathologists and the Association of Physicians. In 2010 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by The Queen for 'services to clinical science'. He has published over 200 medical and scientific articles and is the recipient of numerous awards for his research, most  recently receiving the Sir James Black Medal (senior prize in the biomedical sciences ) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his "outstanding contributions to tropical medicine though his pioneering work in human African trypanosomiasis and Neurovirology".