Vivienne Mary Hunt Parry, OBE (born Vivienne Mary Hunt Mills on 4 June 1956 in Portsmouth) is a science journalist.
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She was educated at St Swithun's School, Winchester, an independent girls' school. This is currently one of the best girls' schools in England.
She studied Zoology [1] at Bedford College (London) graduating with a BSc in 1978,[2] majoring in immunology and genetics which she took at University College, London.
Her first job was as National Organiser of the mother and baby charity Birthright, the appeal arm of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from 1979-94. She worked closely with the charity's Patron, HRH The Princess of Wales for 12 years.[3]
She was briefly a Trustee of the Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.[4]
She is Vice Chairman of Council of UCL[5] and a member of Council of the Medical Research Council[6] since 2009.
She was the columnist of the News of the World for four years from 1998-2002 and combined this with writing for the Journal of Molecular Biology. She also wrote columns for The Guardian from 2004-5 and for The Times Body and Soul supplement from 2005-9.
In 1994, she became a presenter of the BBC TV science programme 'Tomorrow's World' and also reported for Panorama. She left the programme in 1997.
She is well known as a broadcaster with Radio 4 and presents a wide range of documentaries on science and medicine including eight series of Am I Normal? from 2006-10 and three series of Inside the Ethics Committee from 2005-7.
She married Paul Parry in 1978 in Hampshire. They divorced in 2007 and have two sons.
Parry was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to the public understanding of science.[7][3]
She opens her garden under the National Gardens Scheme.