The University of Oxford has appointed Professor Menna Clatworthy as its first female Regius Professor of Medicine following approval from The King.
The appointment was confirmed on 16 October and covers a post established by King Henry VIII in 1546.
Professor Clatworthy, FRCP, PhD, FMedSci, currently holds the position of Professor of Translational Immunology at the University of Cambridge.
Her other roles include Honorary Consultant Nephrologist, Director of Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease, former NIHR Research Professor and former Director of Clinical Studies at Pembroke College, Cambridge, alongside various fellowships and honours.
A Regius Professorship is among the country’s most distinguished academic appointments.
The Crown selects the holder through the Royal Prerogative on the Prime Minister’s recommendation, following a formal recruitment process conducted by the university.
Professor Clatworthy will succeed Professor Sir John Bell.
Her appointment marks a significant change in the history of the position, as no woman had held Oxford’s Regius Professorship of Medicine since its creation.
She is also only the second woman appointed as Regius Professor of Medicine in the United Kingdom.
Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak became the first in 2010 while working at the University of Glasgow.
Women were excluded from many senior academic posts and from attendance, study and graduation at UK universities for a substantial part of the history of Regius Professorships.
Oxford began admitting female students as full members and awarding them degrees in 1920.
A limit of fewer than 1,000 female students each year remained in place until 1957, while the heads of Oxford’s women’s colleges did not gain permission to serve as vice-chancellors until 1959.
Professor Lyndal Roper became Oxford’s first female Regius Professor in 2011 when she was appointed to the chair of history.
Professor Clatworthy is due to take up the Regius Professorship of Medicine at the University of Oxford on 1 March 2027.