NIBSC - Scientific Advisory Committee

NIBSC Scientific Advisory Committee

The NIBSC Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) was re-established in 2014. Its aim is to provide independent expert advice, scrutiny and oversight across the increasingly broad range of scientific work at NIBSC and its science strategy, and provide assurance to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and to the Department of Health about the Institute’s activities.

The chair of the new SAC is one of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency’s Agency Board members, Professor David Webb (Department of Cardiology, Edinburgh University).

SAC members provide expertise in the areas considered to be important for the NIBSC’s future scientific development.

Full Members
Professor David J Webb (Committee Chair and MHRA Board Member)	Professor of Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Queen’s Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh
Professor Jeffrey Almond	Visiting Professor, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford
Professor Paul Kellam	Professor of Virus Genomics at Imperial College London and Vice President of infectious diseases & vaccines at Kymab Ltd, UK
Professor Ian Kimber	Professor of Toxicology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester
Professor David Linch	Professor of Clinical Haematology, Research Department of Haematology, Cancer Institute, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University College London
Dr Tina Morris	Executive Director, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS)
Professor Andrew Pollard	Director, Oxford Vaccine Group, CCVTM, and Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity, University of Oxford
Professor Ian Young	Director, Centre for Public Health, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Queens University, Belfast
Professor Angela Thomas	Consultant Paediatric Haematologist, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, and Acting President for Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Professor Yvonne Perrie	Professor in Drug Delivery, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Observers/Representatives
Dr Jonathan Graves	Genomics, Science & Emerging Technologies, SRE, Department of Health & Social Care

Terms of reference of NIBSC Scientific Advisory Committee

The terms of reference for the committee are:

To help the senior management team establish scientific strategy and direction for the standardisation, control and research function of NIBSC within the context of the overall MHRA Corporate Plan;
To review activities of the Research Oversight Committee and provide input to the research activities of NIBSC
To provide evidence for assurance to the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) that NIBSC’s Service Level contract for R&D (The Regulatory Science Research Unit) is being delivered effectively;
To oversee the rolling quinquennial review mechanism for the scientific divisions, appointing review panels and receiving reports from those panels;
To review and comment on proposed scientific objectives for the coming business year;
To review progress against scientific objectives at the end of the business year;
To report to the NIBSC Director, CET and Agency Board on the scientific work of the Institute, providing assurance and making recommendations as appropriate;
To act as advocates for the importance of NIBSC’s scientific work in the wider community.