Peter Openshaw (physician)
Professor Peter Openshaw FRCP FMedSci (born 11 November 1954) is a clinician-scientist working lung immunology, particularly defence against viral infections. He trained in lung diseases and undertook a PhD in immunology (1985–88) before establishing a laboratory at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School (later, part of Imperial College London). He created the academic department of Respiratory Medicine and the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College and was elected President of the British Society for immunology in 2014.
Education and early life
Born in Glastonbury, Somerset, son of William A Openshaw and Susan E Scott Stokes; 2 brothers. Attended Millfield Junior School, then Sidcot and Bootham (Quaker boarding schools) followed by Guy’s Hospital Medical School (University of London). Intercalated BSc in Physiology (Hons., 1976), qualifying in medicine (MB BS, 1979). Houseman and Senior House Officer at Guy’s, the Royal Brompton Hospital. Medical Registrar, Royal Postgraduate Medical School (Hammersmith Hospital), 1982-85.
Career
- Immunological work
Originally trained in lung mechanics, his PhD at the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London was in T cell immunology. He has worked on protective and harmful immunological reactions to viruses, inflammatory lung disease and vaccine development since 1985, authoring over 200 scientific articles (H index= 52).
- Respiratory virus research
He was awarded the Chanock prize (2012, Santa Fe USA) in recognition of his lifetime achievement in work on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) research. He has been involved in influenza policy since 2002 as a member of UK advisory boards and was Vice President of ESWI (European Scientific Working Group on Influenza) from 2009-2014. In 2009 he set up the MOSAIC consortium, a collaboration of 45 co-investigators studying the host response to influenza in patients admitted to 11 hospitals in London and Liverpool (Wellcome Trust/MRC support) and directs studies of viral challenge of human volunteers
- Academic leadership
Openshaw established the academic department of Respiratory Medicine on the St Mary’s Campus of Imperial College and created the Centre for Respiratory Infection (Wellcome Trust funded). He became President of the British Society for Immunology in 2014, the first clinician to lead the Society. He has sat on numerous governmental, grant awarding and international committees.
Honours
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (1994), Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (1999); Fellow of the Society of Biology (2014); NIHR Senior Investigator (2013).
Personal life
Married Clare Patricia Vaughan (d 1996) in 1979; children: Sam (1983), Jonathan (1985), Madeleine (1990). Married Prof Evelyn K Welch (2001); step-children Florence (1986), Grace (1989) and John James (1993). Enjoys skiing, sailing and knot tying.
Selected publications
- Chiu C, Openshaw PJ. (2015) Antiviral B cell and T cell immunity in the lungs. Nature Immunology. 16(1):18-26. doi: 10.1038/ni.3056. PMID 25521681
- Guvenel AK, Chiu C, Openshaw PJ (2014) Current concepts and progress in RSV vaccine development. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24405366 Expert Rev Vaccines DOI 10.1586
- Schnoeller C, Roux X, Sawant D, Raze D, Olszewska W, Locht C, Openshaw PJ. (2013) Attenuated Bordetella Pertussis Vaccine Protects against RSV Disease via an IL-17-dependent Mechanism. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. DOI 10.1164/rccm.201307-1227OC
- Loebbermann J, Thornton H, Johansson C and Openshaw PJM. (2013) Defective immunoregulation in vaccine-augmented viral lung disease, restored by selective chemoattraction of regulatory T cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110:2987-2992 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1217580110
- Hansel TT, Johnston SL, Openshaw PJ (2013) Microbes and mucosal immune responses in asthma. Lancet 381:861–873 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)62202-8
- Everitt AR, Clare S, Pertel T, John SP, Wash RS, Smith SE, Chin CR, Feeley EM, Sims JS, Adams DJ, Wise HM, Kane L, Goulding D, Digard P, Anttila V, Baillie JK, Walsh TS, Hume DA, Palotie A, Xue Y, Colonna V, Tyler-Smith C, Dunning J, Gordon SB; GenISIS Investigators; MOSAIC Investigators, Smyth RL, Openshaw PJ, Dougan G, Brass AL, Kellam P. (2012) IFITM3 restricts the morbidity and mortality associated with influenza. Nature. 484:519-23.doi: 10.1038/nature10921
- Loebbermann, J., Thornton, H., Durant, L., Sparwasser, T., Webster, K. E., Sprent, J., Culley, F.J., Johansson, C. and Openshaw, P. (2012). Regulatory T cells expressing granzyme B play a critical role in controlling lung inflammation during acute viral infection. Mucosal Immunology. doi: 10.1038/mi.2011.62
- Nguyen-Van-Tam JS, Openshaw PJM, Hashim A, Gadd EM, Lim WS, Semple MG, Read RC, Taylor BL, Brett SJ, McMenamin J, Enstone JE, Armstrong C and Nicholson KG on behalf of the Influenza Clinical Information Network (FLU-CIN) (2010) Risk factors for hospitalisation and poor outcome with pandemic A/H1N1 influenza Thorax, 65:645-51
- Moghaddam A, Olszewska W, Wang B, Tregoning JS, Helson R, Sattentau QJ and Openshaw PJM (2006). A potential molecular mechanism for hypersensitivity caused by formalin-inactivated vaccines. Nat. Med. 12:905-907.