One of Lancashire’s leading Consultant immunologists, Professor Anthony Rowbottom, has been awarded an MBE in The Queen's Birthday Honours List 2021 in recognition of his services to Pathology during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Rowbottom is Professor of Clinical Immunology and Laboratory Director for Immunology at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals. He is also the Clinical Director for the Lancashire and South Cumbria Pathology Service and has most notably been instrumental in part leading the Covid-19 swabbing programme across Lancashire and South Cumbria.
In just a short space of time, the Covid-19 testing programme has grown considerably and is now able to offer tens of thousands of tests to the population per day across Lancashire and South Cumbria.
An MBE is an appointment to the Order of the British Empire and are handed out twice a year - in the New Year Honours List and The Queen's Birthday Honours List. MBEs are awarded for an outstanding achievement or service to the community which will have had a long-term, significant impact and stand out as an example to others.
Anthony, from Lytham, is also an established researcher, sitting on the NW Genomics Strategy Board while also being the principal investigator for Excovir, a multi-centre study investigating the impact of Covid-19 on cellular immunity.
Over the years, Professor Rowbottom has raised over £2 million in grant awards and has authored 60 peer reviewed journal articles covering immunology. He is also the Professor of Clinical Immunology at the University of Central Lancashire, teaching both under and post graduate students and providing research supervision to PhD students and MSc projects.
Speaking of the award, Professor Rowbottom said: “I was pleasantly surprised and it is an honour to have received this recognition. However, the award is reflective of the number of really good people I have worked with throughout my career.
“Although the award is primarily for work during the Covid-19 pandemic, I think the work recognises the contribution that I have made to pathology across the NHS over a number of years.
Professor Rowbottom continues to respond to the on-going challenges posed by the pandemic to ensure that the area has sufficient testing capacity. His role as Clinical Director for the Pathology Service will also see investment of over £30 million for the transformation of laboratory services across the Lancashire and South Cumbria area, including the development of a new centralised hub.
