Professor Judith Armitage FRS to be new Microbiology Society President

11 July 2018

President_Judy.jpg

The Microbiology Society is delighted to announce that our new President will be Professor Judith Armitage FRS from the University of Oxford. Professor Armitage’s Presidency will run for three years, beginning on 1 January 2019, when our current President, Professor Neil Gow FRS, steps down.

Judy joined the Society as a PhD student in the early 1970s. She is a bacterial physiologist using interdisciplinary approaches to study bacterial behaviour. She was an editor of the Journal of Bacteriology for 10 years and is currently one of the two Editors in Chief of Current Opinions in Microbiology. She is a member of EMBO, a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology and the Royal Society of Biology. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2013. She is married with two adult daughters and a grandson.

She said of her appointment: “I am surprised, delighted and deeply honoured to be elected President of the Microbiology Society. This is a really exciting time to be a microbiologist, with new tools changing our perceptions of the microbial world. The Society has made some very positive innovations over the past few years and I hope to maintain that momentum. I’m looking forward to working with colleagues old and new and across the country to ensure that the Society continues to provide its members with the interactive platform needed to ensure all areas of microbiology are supported. Microbiology as a discipline has never been more important and working nationally, and internationally with our sister societies, I hope to make sure our voice is heard.”

Dr Peter Cotgreave, Chief Executive of the Microbiology Society, said: “I am delighted to welcome Judy Armitage as our next President. I know she will continue the development of the Society that we have seen under Neil Gow because she has already said that one of the first things she will do is to visit members around the country, and our strength comes from the Society’s wide and deep membership in the microbiology community. Judy is an outstanding scientist and someone who leads by building a strong consensus, which are the ideal characteristics for the President of a membership charity like the Microbiology Society.”


Image: Royal Society.