Chair of the UK COVID-19 Therapeutics Advisory Panel and Clinical Director for the Medical Research Council

Professor Patrick Chinnery FMedSci FRS is Professor of Neurology and Head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. He moved to Cambridge in 2015, having previously worked at Newcastle University, where he also studied for his PhD. Since 2023, he is Executive Chair of the Medical Research Council, having previously been MRC Clinical Director since 2019. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2024.

Professor Chinnery researches the genetic basis of neurological disorders, and particularly mitochondrial diseases. Mitochondria are the main source of energy within neurons and glia. Mutations in genes responsible for mitochondrial biogenesis are a major cause of human disease, affecting multiple organs including the brain. His laboratory research programme is based in the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, and studies the mechanisms of mitochondrial disease in patients and model systems. Their aim is to understand why specific cell types are so vulnerable in mitochondrial diseases. He has an active genomics programme identifying new disease genes and mechanisms in neurological disorders and also runs an active clinical research programme developing new treatments for mitochondrial disorders.