Sir Leszek Krzysztof Borysiewicz, FRS (born 13 April 1951) is a Polish British

Polish British

Polish migration to the United Kingdom describes the temporary or permanent migration of Poles to the United Kingdom . Most Polish migrants to the UK emigrated after two major events, the Polish Resettlement Act 1947 and the 2004 enlargement of the European Union...

 physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

, immunologist and scientific administrator. He is currently the 345th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, his term of office (a maximum of seven years) started on 1 October 2010. Borysiewicz was formerly chief executive of the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council

Medical Research Council (UK)

The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...

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Biography

Leszek Krzysztof Borysiewicz was born in Cardiff, Wales. His parents, Jan Borysiewicz and Zofia Helena Borysiewicz née Woloszyn, were Polish immigrants. Borysiewicz studied medicine at Welsh National School of Medicine

University of Wales College of Medicine

The University of Wales College of Medicine was a medical school based in the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, that formed a part of the University of Wales...

 and received a Ph.D from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School

Royal Postgraduate Medical School

The Royal Postgraduate Medical School was an independent medical school, based primarily at Hammersmith Hospital in west London. In 1988, the school merged with the Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and in 1997 became part of the Imperial College School of Medicine.-History:The medical school...

. He pursued a career in academic medicine at the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 and then as a consultant

Consultant (medicine)

In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior doctor who has completed all of his or her specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen specialty...

 at Hammersmith Hospital

Hammersmith Hospital

Hammersmith Hospital is a major teaching hospital in West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and is associated with the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine...

. He then headed the Department of Medicine at the University of Wales

University of Wales

The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...

 before joining Imperial College London

Imperial College London

Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...

, where he was promoted to Deputy Rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 responsible "for the overall academic and scientific direction of the College," In September 2007, it was reported he would succeed Colin Blakemore

Colin Blakemore

Professor Colin Blakemore, Ph.D., FRS, FMedSci, HonFSB, HonFRCP, is a British neurobiologist who is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and University of Warwick specialising in vision and the development of the brain. He was formerly Chief Executive of the British Medical...

 as the 9th head of the Medical Research Council, a national organisation that supports medical science with an annual budget of around £500 million.

Borysiewicz's research focuses on viral immunology, infectious disease, and viral-induced cancer. He has co-authored and co-edited a number of books on these subjects, including Vaccinations . In the 2001 New Years Honours List he was made a knight bachelor for services to vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...

 research In 2002 he was awarded the Moxon Trust Medal of the Royal College of Physicians

Royal College of Physicians

The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...

. He is also a Governor of the Wellcome Trust

Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 as an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. With an endowment of around £13.9 billion, it is the United Kingdom's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research...

, a council member of Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK is a cancer research and awareness charity in the United Kingdom, formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Its aim is to reduce the number of deaths from cancer. As the world's largest independent cancer...

, a founding fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences

Academy of Medical Sciences

The Academy of Medical Sciences is the United Kingdom's national academy of medical sciences. It was established in 1998 on the recommendation of a group that was chaired by Michael Atiyah. Its president is John Irving Bell....

 and co-chair of the MRC's advisory group on stem cell

Stem cell

This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...

 research. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of medicine in 2010 at The University of Sheffield. He is also a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales

Learned Society of Wales

The Learned Society of Wales is a society that exists to “celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines”.The society was launched on 25 May 2010 at the National Museum of Wales...

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