Two AstraZeneca employees recognised in The Queen’s New Year’s Honours

Two of our employees have been included in The Queen’s New Year’s Honours List 2022, recognised for their outstanding achievements in UK life sciences and supporting the UK and Global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are proud to celebrate with our employees who have received honours in this year’s Queen’s New Year’s List. These honours recognise individual achievements and symbolise the endeavours of our company, in collaboration with the UK life sciences community and Government, to turn the tide on the pandemic. The honours awarded to two of our UK citizens represent Services to UK Science and the COVID-19 response.

Awarded OBE, Dr Julia Thompson, Executive Director, Biopharmaceutical Development, Research and Development.

“This award is a great honour and privilege. I am enormously proud of what AstraZeneca has done towards the pandemic response and I am glad that I have been able to contribute. As the leader of a clinical supply function, my work through the pandemic could not have been more purposeful, more acutely aligned to our mission of bringing innovative medicines and vaccines for COVID-19 to the patients we serve. I would like to thank my team, and the many colleagues, contractors and partners that we work with for their focus, expertise and hard work. Together so much is possible.”

Awarded OBE, Dr Ruth March, Senior Vice President, Precision Medicine and Biosamples, Research and Development.

“I am proud to accept this award on behalf of the team who overcame many challenges to enable regular COVID-19 diagnostic testing for our employees and to keep the supply of innovative medicines that AstraZeneca delivers to patients every day. Through their untiring efforts, teamwork and expertise, not a single manufacturing line or research lab have closed throughout the pandemic. It has been truly humbling to see how rapidly skills developed for high throughput screening and technologies have been redeployed to protect our colleagues and our sites. I would like to thank all colleagues and collaborators for their amazing vision and dedication.”

We are committed to harnessing and sharing our scientific knowledge and expertise in the development of diagnostics and medicines. During the pandemic, equal importance has been placed on ensuring patients in the UK and across the world continue to access other critical treatments in our portfolio, for cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

Mene Pangalos, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D , said “I am delighted that two of my colleagues have been awarded these special honours by Her Majesty and it is a testament to their commitment and contributions to the global challenge we face. This moment gives me equal pride as we look back at the achievements our teams have made in this remarkable year, nearly one year since the first person was vaccinated with Vaxzevria on 4^th January. In less than 12 months the hard work of my colleagues and our international partners has ensured that over 2.5 billion doses of our vaccine have been delivered to over 170 countries.”