Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam's replacement has been announced by the Government. Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, who had been on secondment at the Department of Health from the University of Nottingham since 2017, stepped down from his role as deputy chief medical officer on March 31, 2022 after rising to popularity during the Covid pandemic.
Van-Tam, who gained public affection for his use of analogies to explain coronavirus, will take up a new role as the Pro-Vice Chancellor for the faculty of medicine and health sciences at the University of Nottingham on May 1. During the initial rollout of the Covid vaccine, he spent time volunteering at a large vaccine site in Nottingham giving out doses and putting people at ease.
Dr Thomas Waite will now support Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Professor Chris Whitty as the deputy CMO (DCMO) leading on health protection, replacing Van-Tam. His role will cover emergency response and preparedness, infectious diseases, vaccines and therapeutics.
