Alison Simmons, MD, PhD

Alison Simmons, MD, PhD, is Director of the MRC Human Immunology Unit, UK; Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Oxford and Consultant Gastroenterologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She received her MB BS from Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, University of London and trained in medicine and gastroenterology in London and Cambridge. She undertook a PhD in Oxford before forming a research group at the MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford. Professor Simmons’ group focuses on immunology of intestinal disease and has provided new insights into inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathogenesis. She redefined the cellular map of the intestine, discovering unexpected heterogeneity and charting the basis of mucosal remodeling that fuels inflammation in colitis defining populations of disease associated cells. She has made key contributions to deciphering the function of the strongest IBD susceptibility genes and host pathogen interactions.

She received a National Institutes of Health Research Professorship 2013, a US Harrington Scholar-Innovator award 2014 and is a Wellcome Trust Investigator. Professor Simmons was elected member of Association of Physicians, UK in 2009, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2011 and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, 2019. Professor Simmons sits on a range of advisory panels for public and private sector bodies responsible for biomedical research in the US and Europe.