The new Fellows were chosen for their remarkable contributions to biomedical and health science and their ability to generate new knowledge and improve the health of people everywhere.

The Academy of Medical Sciences is one of the four UK National Academies, alongside the British Academy, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Professor Jones was previously elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2018.

A Professor of Pharmaceutical and Biomaterial Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast, he is an international leader in pharmacy and an award-winning researcher. International awards for his research include the British Pharmaceutical Conference Gold Medal Award (1997), the Lilly Prize for Pharmaceutical Excellence (1997), the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences Innovation Award (2017) and the Griffith Medal of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (2019).

His research concerns the characterisation, formulation and engineering of pharmaceutical materials/dosage forms and biomedical devices. He is the author of three textbooks, has 15 patents and had over 450 research papers published.

Professor Jones is a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Statistician and a Chartered Chemist. In addition to being an elected member of the Royal Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Academy of Engineering, he is an elected Fellow of several learned societies including the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, the Royal Statistical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Irish Academy of Engineering, He is an Eminent Fellow of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Professor Jones is the Editor of the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology.

Professor Jones said: “I am truly honoured to be elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and to join the ranks of so many internationally recognised biomedical and health scientists. This is a major career highlight for me and it is a major recognition of the academic standing of Queen's University."

I look forward to being part of the Academy, working together to find innovative ways for a broad range of health challenges, creating positive changes for the health of the public.”

Professor Dame Anne Johnson PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences said: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome these 60 experts to the Fellowship to help to address the major health challenges facing society.

“Each of the new Fellows has made important contributions to the health of our society, with a breadth of expertise ranging from the physical and mental health of young people to parasitic diseases and computational biology.

“The diversity of biomedical and health expertise within our Fellowship is a formidable asset that in the past year has informed our work on critical issues such as tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the health impacts of climate change, addressing health inequalities, and making the case for funding science. The new Fellows of 2022 will be critical to helping us deliver our ambitious 10-year strategy that we will launch later this year.”

The Academy of Medical Sciences is the independent body in the UK representing the diversity of medical science. The new Fellows will be formally admitted to the Academy on 27 June 2022.