Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam MBE

Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam MBE is a UK physician and public health specialist with a clinical background in emergency medicine, anaesthesia and infectious diseases. He is an expert on respiratory viruses and pandemics.

His career has taken him to the UK Health Protection Agency which latterly became Public Health England, the World Health Organisation, the pharmaceutical and vaccine industries and finally the University of Nottingham Medical School (where he originally trained).

Jonathan was subsequently posted from his university to the Department of Health and Social Care from 2017-2022 as England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer. He became well-known for his leadership role during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly his unique, no-nonsense communication style from the podium at No 10 Downing Street.

He received a knighthood from Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 for services to public health. He was awarded the Royal Society’s Attenborough Award and Lecture 2022 for outstanding public engagement in science.

Recently retired from full-time employment, Jonathan consults independently ‘when he feels like it’ for a wide range of scientific and corporate clients. He is Honorary Colonel to 306 Hospital Support Regiment Army Reserve, Army Cadet Force Medical Support Officers and the Lincolnshire Army Cadet Force.

Being of half-Vietnamese heritage and from a non-affluent - yet decidedly political - background, his life story is fascinating and somewhat unusual. Jonathan last visited the Chalfont St Giles and Jordans Literary Festival in 2018 on which occasion he warned the audience about the very real threat of a future pandemic!