Patrick Vallance Explained

Honorific Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Vallance of Balham
Office:Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation
Predecessor:Andrew Griffith
Primeminister:Keir Starmer
Termstart:5 July 2024
Office1:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Termstart1:17 July 2024
Life peerage
Birth Name:Patrick John Thompson Vallance
Birth Date:17 March 1960
Birth Place:Essex, England
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Children:3
Party:Labour
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Alma Mater:St George's, University of London (BSc, MBBS)
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Patrick John Thompson Vallance, Baron Vallance of Balham, (born 17 March 1960), is a British physician, scientist, life peer, and clinical pharmacologist who has served as Minister of State for Science in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology since July 2024.[1] He previously served as the government chief scientific adviser from 2018 to 2023.

From 1986 to 1995, Vallance taught at St George's Hospital Medical School, where his research concentrated on vascular biology and endothelial cell physiology. In 1995, he was appointed a professor at UCL Medical School, and in 2002 he became head of UCL's department of medicine. From 2012 to 2018, he was president of research and development (R&D) at the global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).[2] He served as the chair of the Natural History Museum's board of trustees between 2022 and 2024.[3] [4]

In March 2020, as the government's chief scientific adviser, Vallance appeared alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, in televised briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to public health. In July 2024, Vallance was named Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following the Labour Party's win in the 2024 general election.

Early life and education

Patrick Vallance was born on 17 March 1960 to Peter Vallance and Barbara Vallance in south-west Essex, now part of Greater London. Before his family moved to Cornwall, he was educated at Woodford Green Preparatory School and Buckhurst Hill County High School, and subsequently privately educated at Truro School. His early aspiration was to become a palaeontologist.[5]

Vallance studied medicine at St George's, University of London, from 1978, where he was taught by Joe Collier, Professor of Medicines Policy,[5] and from which he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1981 followed by a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree in 1984. In addition to Collier, he has been inspired by physician Tom Pilkington and former Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge, Keith Peters.[5]

Career and research

Prior to taking up senior positions with the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and later in the UK Government, Vallance spent several years in medical research.[6]

St George's Hospital

From 1986 to 1995 he taught at St George's Hospital Medical School,[7] where his research concentrated on vascular biology and endothelial cell physiology. Prior to the discovery of the involvement of nitric oxide, it was believed that high blood pressure was usually a result of constrictor activity in blood vessels. Vallance performed studies which demonstrated the link between nitric oxide and blood pressure.[8]

In 1987, with Joe Collier, he set out to investigate whether human blood vessels demonstrated endothelium-dependent relaxation, a term coined in 1980 by Robert F. Furchgott and John V. Zawadzki after discovering that a large blood vessel would not relax when its single-layered inner most lining was removed. Furchgott and Zawadzki subsequently showed that the occurrence was mediated by what they called endothelium-derived relaxing factor, later found to be nitric oxide, and it was shortly shown to occur in a variety of animals. Using veins from the back of a human hand, Vallance and Collier reproduced Furchgott and Zawadzki's findings.[9] Subsequently, their team showed that the human arterial vasculature is actively dilated by a continuous release of nitric oxide.[10] In 1991, Vallance and Salvador Moncada published a paper on the role of nitric oxide in cirrhosis, proposing an association between the changes in blood flow in cirrhosis and the vasoactive properties of nitric oxide.[11] The following year they reported that the plasma concentrations of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) were elevated in people who were uraemic.[12] [13]

University College Hospital

From 1995 to 2002 he was a professor at UCL Medical School, then Professor of Medicine from 2002 to 2006, and head of medicine.[14] He was also registrar of the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2005, as head of the division of medicine at UCL, he published a paper in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, titled "A post-take ward round", in which he suggested that "reinvention of teams of doctors, nurses, therapists and social workers seems like an important task for general medicine".[15] [16] [17]

GlaxoSmithKline

In 2006, in his mid-40s, he joined GSK as head of drug discovery.[18] [19] Four years later he became head of medicines discovery and development, and in 2012 he was appointed head of research and development at GSK.[20] [21] [22] [23] [24] Under his leadership, new medicines for cancer, asthma, autoimmune diseases and HIV infection were discovered and approved for use worldwide. He championed open innovation and novel industry-academic partnerships globally,[25] [23] and maintained a focus on the search for new antibiotics and treatments for tropical diseases.[26]

UK Government

In March 2018, Vallance left GSK, and on 4 April 2018 he began his five-year tenure as Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, replacing the interim officeholder Chris Whitty.[27] In this role he led the Government Office for Science, advising the prime minister and the cabinet.[28] [29] In 2018, he was one of nine scientific advisers who, in a paper in Nature, called for "inclusive, rigorous, transparent, and accessible information for policy makers" and supported the Evidence-Based Research Network, established in 2016, to "lobby for all proposals for new research to be supported by references to systematic reviews of relevant existing research".[30]

COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, as the government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Vallance appeared alongside prime minister Boris Johnson and the Chief Medical Officer for the UK, Chris Whitty, in televised briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic.[31] [32] During some March 2020 TV interviews, he made comments interpreted by some as advocating for a "herd immunity" approach.[33] However, in his second written statement to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, he stated that he mispoke while trying to explain a "technically difficult concept", that interviews given that same day demonstrate that he was not advocating for such a policy, and the later published transcripts of SAGE demonstrate the no such policy was being considered or advocated by government scientific advisors including Vallance. Vallance stated in the same statement that he "regrets" the his use of the term "herd immunity" in those instances. [34]

In September, it emerged that Vallance owns a deferred bonus of 43,111 shares worth £600,000 in GlaxoSmithKline, a company which was working on developing a COVID vaccine.[35] This led to claims of a potential conflict of interest, as Vallance could be seen to have a financial interest in pushing for a vaccine-based response to the pandemic whether or not this is objectively the best approach.[36] Then Health Secretary Matt Hancock denied that this was the case, with a government spokesperson stating that, "Upon his appointment, appropriate steps were taken to manage the Government Chief Scientific Adviser's interests in line with advice provided at the time. The GCSA has no input into contractual and commercial decisions on vaccine procurement which are taken by Ministers following a robust cross-Government approvals regime".[37]

After a televised briefing alongside Johnson and Whitty on 31 October, where a second "lockdown" was introduced for England, Vallance was criticised for showing two slides – projecting hospital admissions and deaths – which were later reissued with worst-case figures revised downward.[38] [39] [40] Five days later, a statement from the Office for Statistics Regulation called for greater transparency in published data relating to the pandemic, including publication of data sources and modelling assumptions; the statement did not refer to any specific presentation but was linked by reporters to the 31 October briefing.[41] [42]

Minister of State for Science

On 5 July 2024, Vallance was named as Minister of State for Science in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology by prime minister Keir Starmer following the Labour party's win in the 2024 general election. He will also receive a peerage in order for him to sit in the House of Lords.[43] [44]

Selected publications

His publications include:

Honours and awards

In 1995, Vallance was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP). The following year he delivered the Goulstonian Lecture of the Royal College of Physicians, where he gave details of the connection between nitric oxide and blood pressure.[51] In 1999 he was elected a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci), and in 2002 he was awarded the Graham Bull Prize for Clinical Science.[52] He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017[52] and an honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (HonFREng) in 2022.[53]

Vallance was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to open clinical science.[54] He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to science in government.[55] In 2023, he was awarded the Royal Medal by the Royal Society.[56]

Following his appointment as Minister of State for Science, Vallance was created a life peer as Baron Vallance of Balham, of Balham in the London Borough of Wandsworth, on 17 July 2024. He was introduced to the House of Lords on 18 July.[57]

Personal life

Vallance married Sophia Ann Dexter in 1986; they have two sons and one daughter. Dexter is a former general practitioner (GP) and honorary tutor at St. George's Hospital Medical School.[58]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ministerial Appointments: July 2024 . 2024-07-05 . GOV.UK . en.
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvJdnLkJH6Q Can Data Make a Medicine?
  3. Web site: February 2022 . Natural History Museum appoints Patrick Vallance as chair .
  4. Web site: 2024-07-17 . Former BBC head is Natural History Museum's new Chair . 2024-07-18 . Maxwell Museums . en.
  5. Patrick Vallance: Inquisitive and geeky. British Medical Journal. 350. mar05 5. 2015. h1144. 1756-1833. 10.1136/bmj.h1144. 25742697. Anon. 5081180.
  6. News: Hardy. Jack. Who is Sir Patrick Vallance? Government's chief scientific adviser carved path through research and big pharma. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/13/sir-patrick-vallance-governments-chief-scientific-adviser-carved/ . 12 January 2022 . subscription . live. 13 March 2020. The Telegraph. 18 March 2020. en-GB. 0307-1235.
  7. https://issuu.com/georegesalumni/docs/st_georges_alumni_newletter/20 "Career profile; Patrick Vallance"
  8. Moncada. Salvador. 1999. Nitric oxide: discovery and impact on clinical medicine. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. en-US. 92. 4. 164–169. 10.1177/014107689909200402. 0141-0768. 1297136. 10450191. SAGE Journals.
  9. Blackman Daniel J.. Morris-Thurgood Jayne A.. Atherton John J.. Ellis Gethin R.. Anderson Richard A.. Cockcroft John R.. Frenneaux Michael P.. 2000. Endothelium-Derived Nitric Oxide Contributes to the Regulation of Venous Tone in Humans. Circulation. 101. 2. 165–170. 10.1161/01.CIR.101.2.165. 10637204. free.
  10. Barba. Gianvincenzo. Mullen. Michael J.. Donald. Anne. MacAllister. Raymond J.. 1999. Determinants of the Response of Human Blood Vessels to Nitric Oxide Donors In Vivo. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. en. 289. 3. 1662–1668. 0022-3565. 10336566.
  11. Book: Morales-Ruiz, Manuel. https://books.google.com/books?id=wzhnIjYpVmsC&pg=PA121. Portal Hypertension in the 21st Century: The proceedings of a symposium sponsored by Axcan Pharma Inc. and NicOx S.A., held in Montrél, Canada, April 2–4, 2004. 2011. Springer Science & Business Media. 978-94-007-1042-9. Groszmann. R. J.. 121–125. en. 14. Pathophysiological role of Akt and endothelial nitric oxidesynthase in cirrhosis. Bosch. J..
  12. Ketteler. Markus. Ritz. Eberhard. 1 September 2000. Renal failure: A state of nitric oxide deficiency?. Kidney International. en. 58. 3. 1356–1357. 10.1046/j.1523-1755.2000.00294.x. 0085-2538. 10972702. free.
  13. Vallance. P.. Leone. A.. Calver. A.. Collier. J.. Moncada. S.. Salvador Moncada. 1992. Accumulation of an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis in chronic renal failure. The Lancet. 339. 8793. 572–575. 0140-6736. 1347093. 10.1016/0140-6736(92)90865-Z. 9790385.
  14. Book: Medicine, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and. Real-World Evidence Generation and Evaluation of Therapeutics: Proceedings of a Workshop. 2017. National Academies Press. 978-0-309-45565-7. 74. en.
  15. Kafetz. Kalman. July 2005. Integrated teams. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 98. 7. 338. 10.1177/014107680509800725. 0141-0768. 1168934. 15994605.
  16. Vallance. Patrick. 2005. A post-take ward round. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 98. 5. 191–192. 10.1177/014107680509800503. 0141-0768. 1129032. 15863758.
  17. Varughese. George I. Dissanayake. Sanjaya U. August 2005. The working day in general medicine. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 98. 8. 387. 10.1177/014107680509800827. 0141-0768. 1181855. 16055914.
  18. Watts. Geoff. 2007. Working within industry's silken but firm embrace. British Medical Journal. 334. 7599. 871.1–871. 10.1136/bmj.39190.671644.DB. 0959-8138. 1857744. 17463447.
  19. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20170729181541/http://www.gsk.com/en-gb/about-us/board-of-directors/dr-patrick-vallance/. gsk.com. 29 July 2017. Dr Patrick Vallance: President, R&D.
  20. Web site: The Life Scientific interviews Patrick Vallance on pharmaceuticals. BBC. bbc.co.uk. Jim Al-Khalili. Jim Al-Khalili. 2015.
  21. Web site: The End of Drug Discovery. Deborah . Cohen. 2012. BBC. bbc.co.uk.
  22. Patrick Vallance. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 9. 11. Anon. 834. 1474-1776. 2010. 10.1038/nrd3307. 21030993. 11104458. free.
  23. Cressey. Daniel. Deep future of drug discovery. Nature. 2011. 1744-7933. 10.1038/news.2011.127.
  24. Book: Rose, Nikolas. OurPsychiatric Future. 2018. John Wiley & Sons. 978-0-7456-8915-9. 130. en.
  25. Cressey. Daniel. Traditional drug-discovery model ripe for reform. Nature. 471. 7336. 2011. 17–18. 0028-0836. 10.1038/471017a. 21368796. 2011Natur.471...17C. 4395455 .
  26. Web site: Imperial celebrates over 3,000 graduating students Imperial News Imperial College London. Evanson. Deborah. Narcross. Jon. 4 May 2016. Imperial News. en. 21 March 2020.
  27. U.K. Government Appoints Next Chief Scientific Adviser. Gibney. Elizabeth. Nature. 2017. 551. 7680. 282. 10.1038/nature.2017.22956. 29144475. 2017Natur.551..282G. en. 21 March 2020. free.
  28. Web site: Appointment of Dr Patrick Vallance as government Chief Scientific Adviser . . 8 November 2017 . 9 November 2017 .
  29. Web site: Patrick Vallance, President, R&D, GSK to become UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser . GlaxoSmithKline . 7 September 2018 . 8 November 2017.
  30. Glasziou. Paul. Chalmers. Iain. 2018. Research waste is still a scandal. British Medical Journal. en. 363. 10.1136/bmj.k4645. 0959-8138. 30420358. 53294156.
  31. Watts. Charlotte H.. Vallance. Patrick. Whitty. Christopher J. M.. Coronavirus: global solutions to prevent a pandemic. Nature. 32071448 . 578. 7795. 2020. 363. 0028-0836. 10.1038/d41586-020-00457-y. 2020Natur.578R.363W. free.
  32. Web site: Government is listening to scientists on coronavirus response, Vallance says Civil Service World. civilserviceworld.com. 24 March 2020.
  33. News: Coronavirus: science chief defends UK plan from criticism . Heather Stewart . Mattha Busby . The Guardian . 13 March 2020 . 5 July 2020 .
  34. Web site: Vallance . Patrick . UK COVID-19 Inquiry: Second Witness Statement of Sir Patrick Valance . 8 July 2024.
  35. News: Roach . April . Matt Hancock denies conflict of interest in Patrick Vallance holding vaccine company shares . 26 September 2020 . Evening Standard . 24 September 2020.
  36. News: Hymas . Charles . Revealed: Sir Patrick Vallance has £600,000 shareholding in firm contracted to develop vaccines . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/23/revealed-sir-patrick-vallance-has-600000-shareholding-firm-contracted/ . 12 January 2022 . subscription . live . 26 September 2020 . The Daily Telegraph . 23 September 2020.
  37. News: Jimenez . Darcy . UK's chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance has £600,000 of shares in vaccine maker GSK . 26 September 2020 . Metro . 24 September 2020.
  38. Web site: Press Association. 6 November 2020. Government criticised after errors emerge in key Covid-19 projections. 7 November 2020. Glasgow Times. en.
  39. Web site: Conway. Ed. 6 November 2020. Coronavirus: Disturbing lack of transparency risks undermining lockdown. 7 November 2020. Sky News. en.
  40. Web site: 3 November 2020. Slides and datasets to accompany coronavirus press conference: 31 October 2020. 7 November 2020. GOV.UK. Prime Minister's Office. en.
  41. News: 5 November 2020. Covid: Regulator criticises data used to justify lockdown. en-GB. BBC News. 7 November 2020.
  42. Web site: 5 November 2020. OSR Statement regarding transparency of data related to COVID-19. 7 November 2020. Office for Statistics Regulation. en-GB.
  43. Web site: Sir Patrick Vallance: From Covid adviser to science minister. London Evening Standard. 5 July 2024.
  44. Web site: Sir Patrick Vallance joins Labour government as science minister. Times Higher Education . 5 July 2024.
  45. Vallance. P.. Moncada. S.. Hyperdynamic circulation in cirrhosis: a role for nitric oxide?. The Lancet. 337. 8744. 1991. 776–778. 0140-6736. 10.1016/0140-6736(91)91384-7. 1706450. 35521040.
  46. Collier. J. Vallance. P. Physiological importance of nitric oxide.. BMJ. 302. 6788. 1991. 1289–1290. 0959-8138. 10.1136/bmj.302.6788.1289. 1670035. 2059682.
  47. Vallance. Patrick. Exploring vascular nitric oxide in health and disease. The Goulstonian Lecture 1996. . Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London . 1997 . 31 . 3 . 321–7 . 9192338 . 5421009 .
  48. Vallance. Patrick. Nitric oxide in the human cardiovascular system-SKB lecture 1997. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 45. 5. 2002. 433–439. 0306-5251. 10.1046/j.1365-2125.1998.00720.x. 9643614. 1873539.
  49. Vallance. Patrick. Sildenafil: desired and undesired effects. Hospital Medicine. 60. 3. 1999. 158–159. 10476234 . 1462-3935. 10.12968/hosp.1999.60.3.1057.
  50. Donnelly. Christl A.. Christl Donnelly. Boyd. Ian. Campbell. Philip. Craig. Claire. Vallance. Patrick. Walport. Mark. Whitty. Christopher J. M. . Woods. Emma. Wormald. Chris. Four principles to make evidence synthesis more useful for policy . Nature. 558. 7710. 2018. 361–364. 0028-0836. 10.1038/d41586-018-05414-4. 29925978. 2018Natur.558..361D. free. 10044/1/61362. free.
  51. Spronk. Peter E. Zandstra. Durk F. Ince. Can. 2004. Bench-to-bedside review: Sepsis is a disease of the microcirculation. Critical Care. 8. 6. 462–468. 10.1186/cc2894. 1364-8535. 1065042. 15566617 . free .
  52. Web site: Patrick Vallance . Royal Society. London. Anon. 2017. royalsociety.org. en-gb. 19 March 2020.
  53. Web site: Royal Academy of Engineering welcomes 72 new Fellows . Royal Academy of Engineering . 26 September 2022.
  54. Web site: Patrick Vallance knighted in 2019 New Year's Honours . British Pharmacological Society . 7 February 2019 . 29 December 2018.
  55. News: 31 December 2021. New Year Honours: Whitty, Van-Tam and Blair knighted, Lumley and Redgrave made dames. en-GB. BBC News. 31 December 2021.
  56. Web site: Royal Medal. 2023. royalsociety.org.
  57. Parliament of the United Kingdom . House of Lords . Introduction: Lord Vallance of Balham . 18 July 2024 . 839 . 27 .
  58. Web site: Our Trustees. Cardboard Citizens. 24 September 2020.