View source for Geoffrey L. Smith

{{Short description|British virologist}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{other people|Geoffrey Smith}}

  {{Infobox scientist
  | name              = Geoffrey Smith|honorific_suffix=[[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] [[Academy of Medical Sciences|FMedSci]] [[Royal Society of Biology|FRSB]]
  | birth_date        = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1955|07|23}}<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who | title=SMITH, Prof. Geoffrey Lilley | id = U45130 | volume = 2006 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford}}</ref>
  | thesis_title      = Replication of the influenze virus genome
  | thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/301419558
  | thesis_year       =1981
  | doctoral_advisor  =
  | doctoral_students =
  | website           = {{URL|http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/directory/geoffrey-smith}}}}
'''Geoffrey Lilley Smith''' (born 1955)<ref name=whoswho/> is a British [[virologist]] and medical research authority in the area of [[Vaccinia]] virus and the family of [[Poxviruses]].<ref name=frs/> Since 1 October 2011 he is head of the Department of Pathology at the [[University of Cambridge]]<ref name="election">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2010-11/weekly/6218/section2.shtml#heading2-11|title=Vacancies, appointments, etc.|chapter=Elections|work=[[Cambridge University Reporter]]|date=16 March 2011|access-date=6 January 2012|issue=6218|volume=CXLI No 22|publisher=The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge|quote=Professor Geoffrey Lilley Smith, M.A., ''CHR,'' BSc (Hons), ''University of Leeds,'' PhD, ''CNAA,'' M.A., ''Oxford,'' FRS, FSBiol, FMedSci, Professor of Virology, Imperial College London, and [[Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow]], elected Professor of Pathology with effect from 1 October 2011.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.immunology.cam.ac.uk/news/article.php?permalink=015e5ffa04 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120802131046/http://www.immunology.cam.ac.uk/news/article.php?permalink=015e5ffa04 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 August 2012 |title=Two University Lectureships in Virology and Innate Immunity – Department of Pathology |quote=Following the appointment of Professor Geoffrey Smith FRS as Head of Department and Professor of Pathology from 1 October 2011 |date=4 September 2011 |access-date=6 January 2012 |publisher=University of Cambridge }}</ref> and a principal research fellow of the [[Wellcome Trust]].<ref>{{cite conference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XtszgNtLGbEC|title=Microbe-vector interactions in vector-borne diseases|issue=63|year=2004|isbn=978-0-521-84312-6|author=Society for General Microbiology|editor1-first=Stephen H.|editor1-last=Gillespie|editor2-first=Geoffrey L.|editor2-last=Smith|editor3-first=Anne|editor3-last=Osbourn|page=Back Cover|format=Symposium|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> Before that, he was head of the Department of Virology at [[Imperial College London]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1934692.stm|title=Warning over smallpox relative|publisher=BBC News|date=17 April 2002|access-date=3 February 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13360794|title=Should the US and Russia destroy their smallpox stocks?|publisher=BBC News|date=16 May 2011|quote=Professor Geoffrey Smith, from Imperial College London … led a review of the state of scientific research on behalf of the WHO}}</ref>

==Education==
Smith was educated at the [[Bootham School]]<ref name=whoswho/> in York and completed his bachelor's degree at the [[University of Leeds]] in 1977.  In 1981 he was awarded a PhD in [[Virology]]<ref name=glsphd>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Geoffrey Lilley|last=Smith |title=Replication of the influenze virus genome |publisher=[[Council for National Academic Awards]] |year=1981 |id={{ProQuest|301419558}}}}</ref> for research completed at the [[National Institute for Medical Research]].<ref name=orcid>Geoffrey L. Smith's {{ORCID|0000-0002-3730-9955}}</ref><ref name="recombinant"/><ref name="leeds-alumni">{{cite web|url=http://tldynamic.leeds.ac.uk/leedsyorkshire/graduates/science.asp |title=Who's been here {{!}} Science and technology |publisher=[[University of Leeds]] |access-date=20 May 2009 |quote=Professor Geoffrey Smith FRS, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 1977 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090329175837/http://tldynamic.leeds.ac.uk/leedsyorkshire/graduates/science.asp |archive-date=29 March 2009 }}</ref><ref name="asm-hogan-2012"/> 

==Career and research==
Between 1981 and 1984, while he was working in the United States under the [[National Institutes of Health]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/19/us/a-herpes-vaccine-effective-in-mice.html|title=A Herpes Vaccine Effective in Mice|work=The New York Times|first=Harold M.|last=Schmeck Jr.|date=19 October 1983|access-date=3 February 2010}}</ref> Smith developed and pioneered the use of genetically engineered live [[vaccine]]s.<ref name="are-cures">{{cite press release|work=Are cures for diseases dangerous weapons?|publisher=[[Economic and Social Research Council|ESRC]] Genomics Policy and Research Forum|url=http://www.genomicsnetwork.ac.uk/esrcgenomicsnetwork/news/mediaroom-pressreleases/2007pressreleases/title,74,en.html|title=Notes to Editors. Speakers' biographies|date=2 April 2007|quote=Smith … is the Head of the Department of Virology at Imperial College London. As a postdoctoral fellow in Bernard Moss's laboratory at the National Institutes of Health, USA (1981–84) he developed Vaccinia virus as an expression vector and pioneered the use of genetically engineered viruses as live vaccines|access-date=23 January 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130419075910/http://www.genomicsnetwork.ac.uk/esrcgenomicsnetwork/news/mediaroom-pressreleases/2007pressreleases/title,74,en.html|archive-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> Between 1985 and 1989 he lectured at the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref name="recombinant">{{cite book
|title=Recombinant Poxviruses
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiFhyi9_H5gC&pg=PP7
|first=Matthew M.|last=Binns|author2=Smith, Geoffrey L.
|page=7
|chapter=The Editors
|publisher=CRC Press
|date=27 May 1992
|access-date=5 February 2009
|isbn=978-0-8493-6179-1
|quote=Reader in Bacteriology, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford&nbsp;... ... in 1985 he returned to the U.K. to a lectureship in Virology in the Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge. &nbsp;... in 1989 to a Readership in the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford.}}</ref> During 2002 Smith sequenced a strain of [[Camelpox]] showing how close it was to human [[Smallpox]].<ref name="ns-coghlan-mackenzie">{{cite journal|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2173-fear-over-camelpox-as-bioweapon.html|title=Fear over camelpox as bioweapon|date=17 April 2002|access-date=15 December 2012|first1=Andy|last1=Coghlan|first2=Debora|last2=Mackenzie|journal=New Scientist}}</ref>

Prior to 2002, he was based at the [[Sir William Dunn School of Pathology]] at the [[University of Oxford]].<ref name=frs/><ref name="recombinant"/><ref name="patent">{{cite web|publisher=[[World Intellectual Property Organization]]|url=https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO1998037217|title=(WO/1998/037217) A Soluble Vaccinia Virus Protein that Binds Chemokines|date=10 June 2025}}</ref> Between 1988 and 1992 his work was funded by the Jenner Fellowship from [[The Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine|The Lister Institute]];<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[The Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine]] |url=http://www.lister-institute.org.uk/fellowshipformer.htm |title=Former Fellows of the Lister Institute |access-date=9 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907125405/http://www.lister-institute.org.uk/fellowshipformer.htm |archive-date=7 September 2008 }}</ref> he became a governor of the Institute in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Lister Institute |title=Organisation |url=http://www.lister-institute.org.uk/organ.htm |access-date=23 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203030826/http://lister-institute.org.uk/organ.htm |archive-date=3 February 2009 }}</ref><ref name="imperial-activities">{{cite web|work=Professional Activities |publisher=Imperial College |title=Professor Geoffrey L Smith |url=http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/geoff.smith/activities/ |access-date=23 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090714000007/http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/geoff.smith/activities/ |archive-date=14 July 2009 }}</ref> 

Smith was editor-in-chief of the ''[[Journal of General Virology]]''<ref name="imperial-activities"/> up until 2008 and [[chairman (official)|chairs]] the [[World Health Organization]]'s ''Advisory Committee on Variola Virus Research''.<ref name="who">{{cite web|work=WHO Advisory Committee on Variola Virus Research|publisher=[[World Health Organization]]|url=https://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/WHO_HSE_EPR_2008_1.pdf#page=8|title=Report of the Ninth Meeting|date=30 November 2007|quote=The Advisory Committee then elected Professor Geoffrey Smith as chairman|access-date=23 January 2009|page=8|format=PDF}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/health-experts-to-vote-on-whether-to-destroy-the-last-few-samples-of-smallpox-9412451.html|title=Health experts to vote on whether to destroy the last few samples of smallpox|first=Steve|last=Connor|newspaper=Independent|date=21 May 2014|access-date=23 March 2015|quote=Professor Geoffrey Smith of Cambridge University, who chairs the WHO's advisory committee on variola virus research, said that he is personally in favour of destroying the virus but that some nations still want the decision deferred until further research has been done.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://qz.com/205067/the-last-ditch-effort-to-save-smallpox-research/|title=The last-ditch effort to save smallpox research|work=[[Quartz (publication)|Quartz]]|first=Nick|last=Stockton|date=1 May 2014|access-date=23 March 2015|quote="My view is that [the drugs] are pretty much done," Dr. Geoffrey Smith of Cambridge University in England told Quartz.}}</ref> In 2009 Smith was elected as one of the founding members of the new European Academy of Microbiology and the following year was elected as a corresponding member of the ''{{lang|de|[[Gesellschaft für Virologie]]}}.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://conference.genok.com/geoffrey_smith|title=Geoffrey L. Smith|work=Speakers|publisher=GenØk – Centre for Biosafety|location=Tromsø|access-date=6 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326085055/http://conference.genok.com/geoffrey_smith|archive-date=26 March 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Until 2011 he was the head of the Department of Virology at [[Imperial College London]].<ref name="imperial">{{cite web|work=Contact details |publisher=[[Imperial College London]] |url=http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/geoff.smith/ |title=Professor Geoffrey L Smith |access-date=9 May 2008 |quote=Professor Geoffrey L Smith FRS, FMedSci, FRSB, Wellcome Principal Research Fellow and Chair of Dept: Division of Investigative Science |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20090711122010/http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/geoff.smith/ |archive-date=11 July 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8472802.stm|title=Cell 'surfing' aids virus spread|publisher=BBC News|date=22 January 2010|access-date=3 February 2010}}</ref> As of 2011 Smith became president of the [[International Union of Microbiological Societies]].<ref name="iums-board">{{cite web|url=http://www.iums.org/about/executive-board.html |title=Executive Board 2011–2014 |publisher=[[International Union of Microbiological Societies]] |access-date=6 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204224610/http://iums.org/about/executive-board.html |archive-date=4 February 2012 }}</ref><ref name=orcid/>

[[Andrew H. Wyllie]] had been the previous holder of the head of the Department of Pathology at Cambridge until retirement in September 2011.<ref name="campod-3">{{cite journal|url=http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/news/path-news.pdf |title=Welcome Professor Geoffrey L Smith, FRS |journal=Pathology News |issue=3 |date=21 February 2012 |editor-first=Nicola |editor-last=Graves |page=3 |author1=Cambridge Fund for the Prevention of Disease |author2=Department of Pathology |publisher=[[University of Cambridge]] |access-date=21 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520114202/http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/news/path-news.pdf |archive-date=20 May 2012 }}</ref>

===Publications===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|url=http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9780849361791|title=Recombinant Poxviruses|date=27 May 1992|first1=Matthew M.|last1=Binns|first2=Geoffrey L.|last2=Smith|isbn=978-0849361791|publisher=[[CRC Press]]}}
* {{cite book|url=http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1110514/|title=New Challenges to Health: The Threat of Virus Infection|editor1-first=G. L.|editor1-last=Smith|editor2-first=W. L.|editor2-last=Irving|editor3-first=J. W.|editor3-last=McCauley|editor4-first=D. J.|display-editors = 3 |editor4-last=Rowlands|series=Society for General Microbiology Symposia|number=60|isbn=978-0511141171|date=February 2006|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}
* {{cite book|url=http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1110511/|title=Microbe-vector Interactions in Vector-borne Diseases|editor1-first=Stephen H.|editor1-last=Gillespie|editor2-first=Geoffrey L.|editor2-last=Smith|editor3-first=Anne|editor3-last=Osbourn|editor-link3=Anne Osbourn|series=Society for General Microbiology Symposia|number=63|isbn=978-0511141126|date=February 2006|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}
* {{cite report|url=http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2010/WHO_HSE_GAR_BDP_2010.3_eng.pdf|title=Scientific review of variola virus research, 1999–2010|date=December 2010|editor1-first=Ali S.|editor1-last=Khan|editor-link1=Ali S. Khan|editor2-first=Geoffrey L.|editor2-last=Smith|publisher=WHO|location=Geneva|id=WHO/HSE/GAR/BDP/2010.3|access-date=23 March 2015}}
{{refend}}

==Awards and honours==
In 2002, Smith was elected as a [[Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences]]. In 2003, he was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]<ref name=frs>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117113329/https://royalsociety.org/people/geoffrey-smith-12299/ |archive-date=17 November 2015 |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/geoffrey-smith-12299/ |publisher=royalsociety.org |location=London |author=Anon |year=2003 |title=Professor Geoffrey Smith FMedSci FRS }} One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: {{quote|"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under [[Creative Commons license|Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]]." --{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |title=Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies |access-date=9 March 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925220834/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |archive-date=25 September 2015 }}}}</ref><ref name="guardian">{{cite news|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=http://education.guardian.co.uk/gendergap/story/0,,959291,00.html|title=Royal Society names nine women fellows|date=19 May 2003|quote=Included in this year's fellows are Professor Geoffrey Smith, known for his research on a smallpox vaccine.|first=Polly|last=Curtis}}</ref> and in 2005 was awarded the ''[[Wilhelm Feldberg|Feldburg]] Foundation Prize'' for his work on poxviruses.<ref name="feldburg">{{cite web|publisher=[[Imperial College London]] |url=http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/news/p51301/ |title=Geoffrey Smith wins Feldburg Foundation Prize |date=13 January 2005 |access-date=23 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060924225835/http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/news/p51301/ |archive-date=24 September 2006 }}</ref> Since 2010, he is a founding member of the [[European Academy of Microbiology]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/97178/founding-members-european-academy-microbiology/|title = Founding Members of the European Academy of Microbiology &#124; Imperial News &#124; Imperial College London}}</ref> In 2011 he was elected as a fellow of the [[Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/list-of-members/member/7475/|title=Prof. Dr. Geoffrey Smith|work=List of Members|publisher=Leopoldina|access-date=22 September 2014|quote=Year of election: 2011|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052733/http://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/list-of-members/member/7475/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.leopoldina.org/en/press/press-releases/press-release/press/2039/|title=13 neue Leopoldina-Mitglieder erhalten ihre Urkunden|date=12 May 2012|access-date=22 September 2014|publisher=Leopoldina|quote=Die neuen Leopoldina-Mitglieder gehören der Klasse II an, die die Disziplinen der Lebenswissenschaften vereinigt.}}</ref> In June 2012 Smith was awarded the 2012 GlaxoSmithKline International Member of the Year Award by the [[American Society for Microbiology]].<ref name="asm-hogan-2012">{{cite web|url=http://www.asm.org/asm/index.php/awards-grants/current-glaxosmithkline-international-member-of-the-year-award-laureate.html|title=2012 GlaxoSmithKline International Member of the Year Award Laureate|publisher=[[American Society for Microbiology]]|access-date=12 June 2012|first=Garth|last=Hogan|date=6 June 2012}} {{dead|date=November 2016}}</ref>

==Personal life==
His maternal grandfather was [[Ralph Lilley Turner]],{{fact|date=November 2016}} director of the [[School of Oriental Studies]] and a [[philologist]] of [[Languages of India|Indian languages]].  

==References==
{{reflist}}


{{FRS 2003}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Geoffrey L.}}
[[Category:Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellows]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:British virologists]]
[[Category:National Institute for Medical Research faculty]]
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds]]