Professor Sir John Bell is Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, and Chairman of Office for the Strategic Coordination of Health Research. He served as President of the Academy of Medical Sciences from 2006 to 2011.

His research interests lie in the area of autoimmune disease and immunology, where he has contributed to the understanding of immune activation in a range of autoimmune diseases. In 1993, he founded the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, a leading international centre for complex trait common disease genetics. He is a Non-Executive Director of Roche Holding, Chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health Advisory Board, and sits on the board of Genomics England and chairs its Science Advisory Committee.

He was responsible for the working party that produced the Academy of Medical Sciences’ Strengthening Clinical Research report, which highlighted the need for the United Kingdom to focus its attention on developing expertise in translational research. In 2011, Sir John was appointed one of two UK Life Sciences Champions by the Prime Minister.