Anne O'Garra

Anne O'Garra

Qualifications and History

  • 1983 PhD Microbiology MRC-NIMR, London, UK
  • 1984-1987 Post Doctoral Fellow Immunology MRC-NIMR, London, UK
  • 1987-1990 Post Doctoral Fellow Immunology DNAX Research Institute (now Merck), Palo Alto, California, USA.
  • 1991-2001 - Group Leader/Principal Scientist, DNAX Research Institute, California, USA.
  • 2001 Group Leader and Head of Division, Immunoregulation, Medical Research Council National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK.
  • 2015  Associate Research Director (Group Leader Immunoregulation and Infection), the Francis Crick Institute.

Anne O'Garra obtained her PhD in microbiology and undertook a Postdoctoral Fellowship in immunology at the Medical Research Council National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR; now part of the Francis Crick Institute) in London. At the DNAX Research Institute, California, USA (1987-2001), as an independent group leader, she defined functions and mechanisms for cytokines in the immune response, for which she was named 2nd of Highly Cited Authors in Immunology, 1992-2002 (ISI Science Indicators).

Anne returned to the UK in 2001 to form the Division of Immunoregulation at NIMR, to interface research in immunology and infectious diseases. Anne continues research on the role and function of cytokines in the immune response and how key cytokines are regulated at the transcriptional level. Her group now also study the immune response in tuberculosis in mouse models and human disease.

Anne is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; Fellow of the Royal Society, UK; EMBO member; member of a number of Scientific Advisory Boards, including the Keystone Conferences and an Editor of the Journal of Experimental Medicine. As an advocate of Women-In-Science O'Garra chaired the Athena Swan Institute Pilot Bronze award for the NIMR.