Peter John Morland Openshaw, CBE, FRCP, FMedSci (born 11 November 1954) is a British clinician and scientist specialising in lung immunology, particularly defence against viral infections. He trained in lung diseases and undertook a PhD in immunology before establishing a laboratory at St Mary's Hospital Medical School (later part of Imperial College London). He created the academic department of Respiratory Medicine and the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College and was elected President of the British Society for Immunology in 2014.

Early life

Openshaw was born in 1954 in Glastonbury, Somerset. He attended Millfield Junior School, then the Quaker boarding schools Sidcot School and Bootham School, followed by Guy's Hospital Medical School (University of London). He earned an intercalated BSc in Physiology (Hons., 1976), qualified in medicine (MB BS, 1979), and worked at the Royal Brompton Hospital and as medical registrar at Royal Postgraduate Medical School (Hammersmith Hospital).

Career

Immunological work

Originally trained in lung mechanics, his PhD at the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London was in T cell immunology. He has worked on protective and harmful immunological reactions to viruses, inflammatory lung disease and vaccine development since 1985, writing over 200 scientific articles (h-index= 78).

Respiratory virus research

He was awarded the Chanock prize (2012, Santa Fe USA) in recognition of his lifetime achievement in work on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) research. He has been involved in influenza policy since 2002 as a member of UK advisory boards and was Vice President of ESWI (European Scientific Working Group on Influenza) from 2009-2014. In 2009 he set up the MOSAIC consortium, a collaboration of 45 co-investigators studying the host response to influenza in patients admitted to 11 hospitals in London and Liverpool (Wellcome Trust/MRC support) and directs studies of viral challenge of human volunteers.

Academic leadership

Openshaw established the academic department of Respiratory Medicine on the St Mary’s Campus of Imperial College and created the Centre for Respiratory Infection (Wellcome Trust funded). He became President of the British Society for Immunology in 2014, the first clinician to lead the Society. He has sat on numerous governmental, grant awarding and international committees.

Advisory

Openshaw is a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) in the UK.^[1]

Honours

Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (1994), Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (1999); Fellow of the Society of Biology (2014); National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator (2013).

Openshaw was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to medicine and immunology.^[2]

Selected publications

• Chiu, C; Openshaw, PJ (2015). "Antiviral B cell and T cell immunity in the lungs". Nature Immunology. 16 (1): 18–26. doi:10.1038/ni.3056. PMC 7097128. PMID 25521681.
• Guvenel, AK; Chiu, C; Openshaw, PJ (2014). "Current concepts and progress in RSV vaccine development". Expert Rev Vaccines. 13 (3): 333–44. doi:10.1586/14760584.2014.878653. PMC 7612829. PMID 24405366. S2CID 22216901.
• Schnoeller, C; Roux, X; Sawant, D; Raze, D; Olszewska, W; Locht, C; Openshaw, PJ (2013). "Attenuated Bordetella Pertussis Vaccine Protects against RSV Disease via an IL-17-dependent Mechanism". Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 189 (2): 194–202. doi:10.1164/rccm.201307-1227OC. PMC 3983892. PMID 24261996.
• Loebbermann, J; Thornton, H; Johansson, C; Openshaw, PJM (2013). "Defective immunoregulation in vaccine-augmented viral lung disease, restored by selective chemoattraction of regulatory T cells" (PDF). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 110 (8): 2987–2992. doi:10.1073/pnas.1217580110. PMC 3581918. PMID 23382205.
• Hansel, TT; Johnston, SL; Openshaw, PJ (2013). "Microbes and mucosal immune responses in asthma". Lancet. 381 (9869): 861–873. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)62202-8. PMID 23428115. S2CID 24596808.
• Everitt, AR; Clare, S; Pertel, T; John, SP; Wash, RS; Smith, SE; Chin, CR; Feeley, EM; Sims, JS; Adams, DJ; Wise, HM; Kane, L; Goulding, D; Digard, P; Anttila, V; Baillie, JK; Walsh, TS; Hume, DA; Palotie, A; Xue, Y; Colonna, V; Tyler-Smith, C; Dunning, J; Gordon, SB; Investigators, GenISIS; Mosaic Investigators, Smyth RL; Openshaw, PJ; Dougan, G; Brass, AL; Kellam, P (2012). "IFITM3 restricts the morbidity and mortality associated with influenza". Nature. 484 (7395): 519–23. doi:10.1038/nature10921. PMC 3648786. PMID 22446628.
• Loebbermann, J.; Thornton, H.; Durant, L.; Sparwasser, T.; Webster, K. E.; Sprent, J.; Culley, F.J.; Johansson, C.; Openshaw, P. (2012). "Regulatory T cells expressing granzyme B play a critical role in controlling lung inflammation during acute viral infection". Mucosal Immunology. 5 (2): 161–172. doi:10.1038/mi.2011.62. PMC 3282434. PMID 22236998.
• Nguyen-Van-Tam, JS; Openshaw, PJM; Hashim, A; Gadd, EM; Lim, WS; Semple, MG; Read, RC; Taylor, BL; Brett, SJ; McMenamin, J; Enstone, JE; Armstrong, C; Nicholson, KG (2010). "Risk factors for hospitalisation and poor outcome with pandemic A/H1N1 influenza". Thorax. 65 (7): 645–51. doi:10.1136/thx.2010.135210. PMC 2921287. PMID 20627925.
• Moghaddam, A; Olszewska, W; Wang, B; Tregoning, JS; Helson, R; Sattentau, QJ; Openshaw, PJM (2006). "A potential molecular mechanism for hypersensitivity caused by formalin-inactivated vaccines". Nat. Med. 12 (8): 905–907. doi:10.1038/nm1456. hdl:10044/1/21962. PMID 16862151. S2CID 24601291.

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