Kate Bingham

Last updated

Dame Kate Bingham
Born
Catherine Elizabeth Bingham

19 October 1965
London, England
Alma mater University of Oxford (MA)
Harvard University (MBA)
OccupationVenture capitalist
Spouse
(m. 1992)
Parents

Dame Catherine Elizabeth Bingham DBE HonFRS HonFREng HonFMedSci [1] (born 19 October 1965 [2] ) is a British venture capitalist. [3] She is a managing partner at a venture capital firm, SV Health Investors. [4] In 2020, Bingham chaired the government's Vaccine Taskforce, steering procurement of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Bingham was born in London, the only daughter of the barrister and judge Tom Bingham (later Lord Bingham of Cornhill) and Elizabeth ( née Loxley) and the eldest of their three children. [6] She attended St Paul's Girls' School, London, [7] before going on to study at the University of Oxford where she was an undergraduate student of Christ Church, Oxford. She graduated with a first-class MA in biochemistry . [8]

Bingham then pursued further studies at Harvard Business School, taking the degree of MBA. [9] She has an honorary doctorate from Imperial College London. [10]

Career

Bingham worked in business development for Vertex Pharmaceuticals and consultants Monitor Company before joining Schroder Ventures in 1991 (now SV Health Investors). [11] [12] She became a managing partner specializing in biotechnology, and has served on the boards of companies in the UK, US, Ireland, Sweden and Germany.

As of January 2021 Bingham is listed as being a director of the following active companies: [3] Mestag Therapeutics Ltd; Cybele Therapeutics Ltd; Bicycle tx Ltd; Bicycle Therapeutics plc; Sitryx Therapeutics Ltd; Pulmocide Ltd; Autifony Therapeutics Ltd; Bicycle RD Ltd; SV Health Investors Ltd (whose subsidiaries include the Dementia Discovery Fund); [13] and SV Health Managers LLP.

She also serves on the boards of the Francis Crick Institute [11] and the British government's Advanced Research and Invention Agency. [14]

HM Government appointment

In May 2020 Bingham was appointed chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, without a competitive recruitment process. [15] The taskforce was set up to manage the path towards the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK and its global distribution. [8] In this temporary unpaid role, [16] which finished at the end of the year, [16] she reported to the prime minister. [8] In October, she was one of the participants in a trial of a vaccine by Novavax. [17] According to leaked documents seen by The Sunday Times , Bingham charged taxpayers £670,000 for a team of eight full-time boutique consultants from London PR agency Admiral Associates. [18] This report was later discredited.[ citation needed ] Dame Kate's account of the risks, criticism and political interference she faced are discussed in her book The Long Shot which was published in October 2022 with all proceeds going to the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE). [19] In this she detailed the need for a specialist health communications capability to launch a national Vaccines Registry which was a core part of the vaccine procurement and development strategy and that this was contracted by the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy. [20]

Dame Kate's work on the UK's vaccination rollout programme has been praised by scientists and international media, [21] [22] [23] [4] particularly for securing 350 million doses of six vaccines and setting up infrastructure for clinical trials, manufacturing and distribution. [4]

Awards and honours

In January 2017 Bingham received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the BioIndustry Association UK. [12]

She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for "services to the procurement, manufacture and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines", [24] [25] Bingham was also admitted to the Freedom of the City of London in that year. [26] She was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2023 [27] and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering later the same year. [28] She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences [1] and holds honorary fellowships from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine [29] and the British Pharmacological Society [30]

Views on science policies

Bingham has expressed views on how the UK covid vaccination programme could have been better run, [31] and on how UK potential in life sciences could be improved. [32] [33] She published her account of the seven months she spent chairing the Vaccine Taskforce in her book The Long Shot, in which she shared lessons for future pandemics and offered advice on how government can work more successfully with industry. [34]

Personal life

Bingham married Jesse Norman in 1992; the couple have two sons and a daughter. [35] Norman is a Conservative Party politician and a member of Parliament since 2010, who has held various ministerial posts since 2016. [36]

Related Research Articles

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is the medicine and therapeutic regulatory agency of the Australian Government. As part of the Department of Health and Aged Care, the TGA regulates the quality, supply and advertising of medicines, pathology devices, medical devices, blood products and most other therapeutics. Any items that claim to have a therapeutic effect, are involved in the administration of medication, or are otherwise covered by the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, the Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990, or a ministerial order, must be approved by the TGA and registered in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an independent expert advisory committee that advises United Kingdom health departments on immunisation, making recommendations concerning vaccination schedules and vaccine safety. It has a statutory role in England and Wales, and health departments in Scotland and Northern Ireland may choose to accept its advice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Stevens</span> British health manager and civil servant

Simon Laurence Stevens, Baron Stevens of Birmingham is Chair of Cancer Research UK and an independent member of the House of Lords. He served as the eighth Chief Executive of NHS England from 2014 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Gilbert</span> English vaccinologist (born 1962)

Dame Sarah Catherine Gilbert FRS is an English vaccinologist who is a Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford and co-founder of Vaccitech. She specialises in the development of vaccines against influenza and emerging viral pathogens. She led the development and testing of the universal flu vaccine, which underwent clinical trials in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccine</span> Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2

A COVID‑19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Van-Tam</span> British public health physician

Sir Jonathan Stafford Nguyen Van-Tam is a British healthcare professional specialising in influenza, including its epidemiology, transmission, vaccinology, antiviral drugs and pandemic preparedness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Shemirani</span> British conspiracy theorist

Kay Allison "Kate" Shemirani is a British conspiracy theorist, anti-vaccine activist and former nurse who lost her licence to practise in 2020 for misconduct. She is best known for promoting conspiracy theories about COVID-19, vaccinations and 5G technology. Shemirani has been described by The Jewish Chronicle as a leading figure of a movement that includes conspiracy theorists as well as far-left and far-right activists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaccine Taskforce</span> Non-departmental body coordinating efforts to introduce a COVID-19 vaccine

The Vaccine Taskforce in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was set up in April 2020 by the Second Johnson ministry, in collaboration with Chief Scientific Advisor Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, in order to facilitate the path towards the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK and its global distribution. The taskforce coordinated the research efforts of government with industry, academics and funding agencies in order to expedite vaccine development and deployment.

Helen Aspasia Petousis-Harris is a New Zealand vaccinologist and associate professor in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the University of Auckland. She has been involved in research related to vaccination in New Zealand since 1998, with her main areas of focus being vaccine safety and effectiveness. Petousis-Harris has had a variety of lead roles in New Zealand and international organisations that focus on vaccination and is a regular media spokesperson in this field, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wei Shen Lim is a consultant respiratory physician and honorary professor of medicine at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">June Raine</span> Chief executive of the MHRA

Dame June Munro Raine, is a British doctor who is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom. Raine spent much of her career in the Medicines Division of the MHRA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccination in the United Kingdom</span> Immunisation against COVID-19

The COVID-19 vaccination programme in the United Kingdom is an ongoing mass immunisation campaign for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccination in Israel</span> Plan to immunize against COVID-19

Israel's COVID-19 vaccination programme, officially named "Give a Shoulder", began on 19 December 2020, and has been praised for its speed, having given twenty percent of the Israeli population the first dose of the vaccines' two dose regimen in the span of three weeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deployment of COVID-19 vaccines</span> Distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccinations

As of 3 January 2024, 13.53 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, with 70.6 percent of the global population having received at least one dose. While 4.19 million vaccines were then being administered daily, only 22.3 percent of people in low-income countries had received at least a first vaccine by September 2022, according to official reports from national health agencies, which are collated by Our World in Data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccination in Australia</span> Ongoing COVID-19 vaccine program in Australia

The general COVID-19 vaccination in Australia program began on 22 February 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of vaccinating all willing people in Australia before 2022. Front-line workers and aged care staff and residents had priority for being inoculated, before a gradual phased release to less-vulnerable and lower-risk population groups throughout 2021. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved four vaccines for Australian use in 2021: the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine on 25 January, the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine on 16 February, Janssen vaccine on 25 June and the Moderna vaccine on 9 August. Although approved for use, the Janssen vaccine was not included in the Australian vaccination program as of June 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccination in the Republic of Ireland</span> Immunisation plan against COVID-19

The COVID-19 vaccination programme in the Republic of Ireland is an ongoing mass immunisation campaign that began on 29 December 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland. Ireland's vaccination rollout has been praised as one of the most successful rollouts in the world and was ranked number one in the European Union in terms of its percentage of adult population fully vaccinated, and was also ranked number one in the EU for the number of booster vaccines administered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccination in Canada</span> COVID-19 vaccination programme in Canada

COVID-19 vaccination in Canada is an ongoing, intergovernmental effort coordinated between the bodies responsible in the Government of Canada to acquire and distribute vaccines to individual provincial and territorial governments who in turn administer authorized COVID-19 vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Provinces have worked with local municipal governments, hospital systems, family doctors and independently owned pharmacies to aid in part, or in full with vaccination rollout. The vaccination effort in full is the largest such immunization effort in the nation's history. The vaccination effort began December 14, 2020, and is currently ongoing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccination in South Africa</span> Plan to immunize against COVID-19 in South Africa

COVID-19 vaccination in South Africa is an ongoing immunisation campaign against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), in response to the ongoing pandemic in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 vaccination in New Zealand</span> Ongoing COVID-19 vaccine programme in New Zealand

COVID-19 vaccination in New Zealand began on 20 February 2021, and will continue throughout the pandemic with the goal of vaccinating all willing New Zealanders aged 5 or older. Those aged 5 to 11 require a parent, caregiver or legal guardian accompany them to their appointment and provide consent for them to be vaccinated. As of 1 September, anyone in New Zealand, regardless of their immigration status, is eligible to be vaccinated.

COVID-19 vaccination in Ontario began in December 2020, when the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine were administered. In February 2021, shipments for both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines increased significantly. By May 2021, over 50 percent of Ontarians had received their first dose. By the beginning of 2022, over 80 percent of Ontarians had received their first dose.

References

  1. 1 2 "Fellow". The Academy of Medical Sciences.
  2. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 107th edn . London, UK: Burke's Peerage & Gentry Ltd. p. 376 (BINGHAM OF CORNHILL, LP). ISBN   0-9711966-2-1.
  3. 1 2 "Catherine Elizabeth BINGHAM". Companies House . Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 Cookson, Clive (13 November 2020). "Scientists defend controversial head of UK vaccine task force". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  5. "Objectives of the Taskforce". gov.uk. 22 February 2023.
  6. Tominey, Camilla (19 March 2021). "Kate Bingham exclusive interview: 'EU leaders undermining the vaccine are completely irresponsible'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  7. Johnson, Rachel (23 June 2001). "From here to maternity Conventional thinking says women waste a brilliant education by becoming full-time mothers. Not so, says Rachel Johnson". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 "Kate Bingham appointed chair of UK Vaccine Taskforce". GOV.UK. 16 May 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  9. "In the UK, She Leads the Search for a COVID Vaccine". Harvard Business School. 23 August 2020. Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  10. Rathod, Nikita (4 May 2022). "Postgraduate students celebrate academic success at graduation".
  11. 1 2 "Kate Bingham, Board Member". Francis Crick Institute. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  12. 1 2 "Kate Bingham, Management Partner". svhealthinvestors.com. SV Health Investors. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  13. "SV Health Investors UK Limited: Annual Report and Financial Statements". Companies House. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  14. "Research agency supporting high risk, high reward research formally established" (Press release). 26 January 2023.
  15. "Boris Johnson's profligacy problem". The Economist . 14 November 2020. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  16. 1 2 "Covid-19: Vaccination targets could be exceeded, says Kate Bingham". BBC News. 8 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  17. Merrifield, Ryan (14 October 2020). "Oxford coronavirus vaccine boss warns UK won't get back to normal until at least July". Daily Mirror. London. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  18. Pogrund, Gabriel (7 November 2020). "Vaccine tsar Kate Bingham runs up £670,000 PR bill". The Sunday Times . Archived from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  19. "Dame Kate Bingham book launch, Skylon Park. Friday 21st October 2022". nmite.ac.uk. New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering.
  20. Kuchler, Hannah (18 October 2022). "The Long Shot — Kate Bingham on Britain's Covid vaccine rollout". The Financial Times.
  21. Bolzen, Stefanie; Guerrera, Antonello (6 February 2021). "Former UK vaccines chief says yes to Russian jab if data is good". DIE WELT. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  22. Landler, Mark; Mueller, Benjamin (29 January 2021). "Vaccine Rollout Gives U.K. a Rare Win in the Pandemic". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  23. Balls, Katy (6 February 2021). "Secrets of the Vaccine Taskforce's success". www.spectator.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  24. "No. 63377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2021. p. B8.
  25. Malnick, Edward (5 June 2021). "Exclusive: Queen to honour Kate Bingham with a damehood". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  26. Lord Mayor Russell on Twitter
  27. Anon (2023). "Kate Bingham". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society.
  28. "Royal Academy of Engineering welcomes 73 new Fellows" . Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  29. "Annual General Meeting 2021" (PDF). Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine.
  30. "Honorary Fellows' Directory". British Pharmacological Society.
  31. "The Long Shot — Kate Bingham on Britain's Covid vaccine rollout".
  32. Bingham, Kate (24 January 2023). "Britain is losing its chance to become a life sciences superpower". The Financial Times.
  33. Bingham, Kate (22 June 2023). "Kate Bingham: we have a golden opportunity to give the NHS a hand". The Times.
  34. Sylvester, Rachel (15 October 2022). "Kate Bingham: No 10 felt I was getting too big for my boots". The Times.
  35. Merrick, Jane (7 October 2012). "Jesse Norman: 'The British people are crying out for leadership'". The Independent. London. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  36. "Jesse Norman: Parliamentary career". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 September 2023.