Exciting Announcement: New Regius Professorship of Medicine to be Established at the University of Oxford on 14 October 2026

Professor Menna Clatworthy’s Prestigious Appointment

The King has granted approval for Professor Menna Clatworthy, FRCP, PhD, FMedSci, to assume the Regius Professorship of Medicine at the University of Oxford, succeeding Professor Sir John Bell. Professor Clatworthy currently holds the position of Professor of Translational Immunology at the University of Cambridge and has an extensive background in both academic and clinical medicine.

Distinguished Academic and Clinical Career

In addition to her role at Cambridge, Professor Clatworthy has previously served as a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Professor and as an Honorary Consultant Nephrologist at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is also the Director of the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID) and holds an Associate Faculty position in Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Furthermore, she is a Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, where she has also acted as a Director of Studies in Clinical Medicine.

Her academic focus lies in the fields of immunology and nephrology, encompassing a broad spectrum of research from fundamental immunology and experimental medicine to clinical studies. In recognition of her contributions to the field, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2020 and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales in the same year. She further achieved distinction when elected to the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2022.

Groundbreaking Research Contributions

Professor Clatworthy’s research is particularly renowned for its impact on understanding tissue and humoral immunity. She has made significant strides in elucidating how specific tissue environments influence immune cell function, particularly concerning the regulation of B-cell activation and antibody responses within vital organs such as the kidney and gut. One of her notable findings is the unexpected connection between gut immunity and the central nervous system (CNS). Her work has demonstrated that gut-primed B and T cells can directly migrate to the meninges and brain, challenging previous assumptions regarding the influence of peripheral immune stimuli from the gastrointestinal tract on CNS functioning.

Her innovative research methodologies integrate in vitro and in vivo models, alongside analyses of primary human tissues. By employing advanced single-cell and spatial genomic and transcriptomic technologies, she has significantly advanced the understanding of immune responses in kidney diseases, transplantation, and infections. This includes identifying how the kidney’s microenvironment establishes distinct immune defence zones and pinpointing cell type- and tissue-specific targets that could be therapeutically addressed in conditions characterised by autoantibody-mediated diseases.