Rory Collins facts for kids

Sir Rory Edwards Collins, born on January 3, 1955, is a well-known British doctor and scientist. He is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford. His work focuses on understanding, preventing, and treating serious health problems. These include heart attacks, other blood vessel diseases, and cancer.

Professor Collins also helps combine results from many different studies. This process is called "meta-analysis". Since 2005, he has led the UK Biobank. This is a huge study involving 500,000 British people. They were aged 40 to 69 when they joined.

Early Life and Education

Rory Collins went to Dulwich College for his schooling. He then studied Medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. This school is part of the University of London. He studied there from 1974 to 1980.

He also studied Statistics at two other universities. He went to George Washington University in 1976 and 1977. Later, he studied at the University of Oxford from 1982 to 1983.

Career and Research Focus

Since 1985, Professor Collins has worked at the University of Oxford. He is a co-director of the Clinical Trial Services and Epidemiological Studies units. In 1996, he became a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Oxford. The British Heart Foundation supported his work.

Since September 2005, he has also been the main leader of the UK Biobank. This important study looks at the health of half a million people. It helps scientists learn more about diseases.

Understanding Diseases Through Big Studies

Professor Collins is known for setting up large-scale studies. These studies help find the causes of diseases. They also look at ways to prevent and treat them. His research has focused on heart attacks, other blood vessel diseases, and cancer.

The Impact of Statins

One of his biggest achievements is his work on statins. These are medicines that help lower cholesterol. Before his research, statins were only used for rare conditions. Thanks to his large studies, statins are now widely used. They help prevent millions of heart attacks and strokes every year.

His research included big studies where some people took statins and others took a placebo (a dummy pill). He also combined results from many studies worldwide. This showed that statins really do reduce the risk of heart attacks. His work also discovered that statins can lower the risk of stroke. He proved that these medicines are safe and work well for many different patients. The Medical Research Council (MRC) has helped fund his important research.

Awards and Recognition

Professor Collins has received many important awards. He was made a knight in 2011. This was for his great contributions to science.

He became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2004. In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). These are very high honors in the scientific world. In 2024, Time magazine included him in their list of the 100 most influential people in health.