Double celebration for microbiologist Sharon

Staff at Cambridge University Hospitals are celebrating after a colleague received national recognition – twice in one week.

Yesterday (Thursday 26 Oct) it was announced that non-executive director and consultant microbiologist Professor Sharon Peacock is to receive the coveted Microbiology Society’s Unilever Colworth Prize.

The prize, which will be presented at the society’s annual meeting in April, “recognises excellence” and is awarded to those “making significant contributions in the field of microbiology”.

The announcement came just a day after a study into the superbug MRSA, led by Professor Peacock, was considered so important it was published in the prestigious academic journal, Science Translational Medicine.

Her researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases and Cambridge’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute used DNA sequencing to scrutinise nearly 1500 patient samples from three hospitals and 75 GP surgeries in the eastern region.

Coupled with a technique called genomic surveillance, they uncovered 173 “secret” outbreaks and developed an approach that could transform the way MRSA and other superbugs are tackled.

Professor Peacock, who in 2015 was awarded a CBE for her work, is an honorary consultant microbiologist at CUH. She also holds honorary positions at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge Department of Medicine.

She said: “I am honoured to be recognised by the Microbiology Society and very proud that our study has been published. The combination of the two has made it a very exciting week!

“The study was a real team effort and it is important that I pay tribute to my research group and members of the CUH diagnostic microbiology laboratory, whose talent and hard work is the basis for our collective success.”