George Davey Smith, Scientific Director of Bristol University’s Children of the 90s study and Professor of Clinical Epidemiology in the Department of Social Medicine has been elected a Foreign Associate of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in the US.

Professor Davey Smith becomes one of around 80 foreign associates elected by the Institute on the basis of professional achievement and of demonstrated interest, concern and involvement with problems and critical issues that affect the health of the public.

The Institute of Medicine is a non-profit organisation that provides unbiased science-based advice and authoritative information on biomedical science, medicine, and health to policy-makers, professionals, and the public in the US.

As well as being Scientific Director of Children of the 90s, Professor Davey Smith is Director of the Medical Research Council Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology (CaiTE).  He has pioneered the use of genetic studies to inform us about disease prevention and is a recognised international leader on research in this area and in social inequities in health.

His research has been extensively published in prestigious international journals including The Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the British Medical Journal (BMJ), and he is editor of the International Journal of Epidemiology.

His current research funding tops £20 million for Children of the 90s, his MRC Centre and projects internationally, in particular in India.

Professor Eric Thomas, Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University said: “This is a great honour for George and reflects the esteem in which he is held internationally.”