34 Facts About Sharon Peacock

Sharon Jayne Peacock was born on 24 March 1959 and is a British microbiologist who is Professor of Public Health and Microbiology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge, and Master of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Sharon Peacock then trained as a dental nurse, before entering training as a state registered nurse.

Sharon Peacock enrolled to study medicine at the University of Southampton in 1983, and graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine degree in 1988.

Sharon Peacock was awarded a Wellcome Trust research training fellowship in microbiology in 1995, supporting a PhD conducted at the University of Oxford and Trinity College Dublin and awarded in 2003 by the Open University for her work on fibronectin-binding proteins in the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus.

Sharon Peacock was awarded a BA in History by the Open University in 1995, studied alongside higher medical training.

Sharon Peacock completed the Non-Executive Director diploma with the Financial Times in 2017.

In 2023, Sharon Peacock was awarded a Doctor of Science by the University of Southampton.

Sharon Peacock's work is particularly focused upon developing diagnostic and public health innovations from genome sequencing technologies.

From 1998, Sharon Peacock worked as senior lecturer in clinical microbiology at the University of Oxford.

On returning to the UK in 2009, Sharon Peacock became Professor of Clinical Microbiology at the University of Cambridge, heading the Sharon Peacock Lab.

Sharon Peacock took up honorary consultant positions with the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and the Health Protection Agency, a public body advising on protecting public health.

Sharon Peacock maintained a research programme in Thailand, working on the molecular epidemiology of Leptospira, infection mechanisms of Burkholderia pseudomallei and melioidosis.

Sharon Peacock was a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge from 2013 to 2015 and was elected as an Honorary Fellow in 2022.

Sharon Peacock led a working group for the Department of Health's 100,000 Genomes Project and in 2017 contributed to the UK Chief Medical Officer's annual report on antimicrobial resistance.

In 2019, Sharon Peacock returned to the University of Cambridge as Professor of Public Health and Microbiology.

Sharon Peacock was the founding director of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, established in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to collaborate on whole genome sequencing of the virus.

Sharon Peacock has been a non-executive director on the board of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2015.

Large-scale research conducted by Sharon Peacock involved studies of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and in 2017 her study into the superbug was published in Science Translational Medicine.

Sharon Peacock continues to research pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and multidrug resistant bacilli, and to conduct studies aimed at identifying reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance.

Sharon Peacock's research has been funded by the Medical Research Council, the Department of Health and the Wellcome Trust.

In March 2020, Sharon Peacock convened a scientific group of national genomics experts to develop plans for a nationwide pandemic SARS-CoV-2 sequencing network.

Sharon Peacock led this consortium of 16 academic institutions, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and the four public health agencies of the UK, which became networked with more than a hundred NHS diagnostic and high-throughput COVID-19 testing labs.

Sharon Peacock has a strong track record of mentoring within scientific and medical disciplines, driven by her own lived experience of leaving state-maintained education at 16 and taking a circuitous route to University.

Sharon Peacock combines this with a focus on improving access to educational opportunities, delivered through leadership and governance roles.

Sharon Peacock is a committed advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion, which has been recognised with several awards.

Sharon Peacock has given numerous talks on women in STEM, including events celebrating International Women's Day:.

Sharon Peacock has shared the story of her life and career as a woman in STEM through a range of interviews, including:.

Sharon Peacock was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2002, a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists in 2005, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2013, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2013, and a member of the Academia Europaea in 2022.

Sharon Peacock was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to medical microbiology.

Sharon Peacock received a National Institute for Health Research senior investigator award in 2017.

Sharon Peacock was awarded the Unilever Colworth Prize in 2018 in recognition of her work in microbiology.

Sharon Peacock was honoured with the MRC Millennium Medal 2021, the Medical Research Council's most prestigious prize for exceptional researchers who have made major contributions towards the MRC's mission to improve health, wealth and quality of life.

In 2022, Sharon Peacock was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal Veterinary College in recognition of her achievements and contributions to the One Health agenda.

In 2023, Sharon Peacock was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.