Masters of the Bench

Full Title: Professor Sir Christopher Whitty KCB FRS

Category: Honorary Bencher

Bench Call Date: 02-10-2025

Bio:

Professor Chris Whitty is Chief Medical Officer for England, the UK government’s Chief Medical Adviser and head of the public health profession. He is a practising NHS Consultant Physician at University College London Hospitals and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, and a visiting professor at Gresham College. An epidemiologist, he has worked as a doctor and researcher in the UK, Africa and Asia, and was formerly Professor of Public and International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he remains an honorary professor. He served as interim Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care, and was its Chief Scientific Adviser, also leading the National Institute for Health Research. He was interim Government Chief Scientific Adviser from 2017 to 2018, during the Novichok poisonings, and earlier served as DFID Chief Scientific Adviser, leading work on Ebola and other emergencies.