Professor Matt Higgins elected to Academy of Medical Sciences fellowship

The Department of Biochemistry is delighted to announce that Professor Matt Higgins FMedSci, EP Abraham Chair of Structural Biology, is among five University of Oxford biomedical and health scientists to be elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences fellowship in 2025.

Professor Higgins leads a research team that investigates the molecular basis for critical host-parasite interactions and uses this insight to design improved immunotherapeutics. He studies how molecules from human-infective parasites stick to their human targets in processes such as red blood cell invasion in malaria and nutrient acquisition in sleeping sickness.

Professor Higgins says: 'It will be a huge privilege to have the chance to take part in the Academy’s important work in supporting researchers from across the medical community and advocating for evidence based medicine. This has never been more important!'

Professor Francis Barr, Head of the Department of Biochemistry, comments: ‘This is richly deserved and recognises Matt’s ground-breaking work on the structures and functions of the proteins malarial parasites use to enter human cells. If that wasn’t enough, his team also works out how this process is targeted at a molecular level by the human immune system to create new more effective vaccines.’

Fellows from Oxford who have also been elected are Professor Charalambos Antoniades, Professor Simon Draper, Professor Dame Molly Stevens and Professor Naomi Wray. They are among the 54 new Fellows announced this year who will be formally admitted to the Academy at a ceremony on Wednesday 9 July 2025. All have been elected in recognition of their exceptional contributions to the advancement of biomedical and health science, cutting edge research discoveries, and translating developments into benefits for patients and wider society. For more details, read the University’s news story and the Academy of Medical Sciences full press release.