Peter J. Ratcliffe FMedSci FRS

Professor Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe, FRS, FMedSci, is a British physician-scientist and leading figure in biomedical research, widely recognised for his groundbreaking work on how cells sense and respond to oxygen. His discoveries have transformed our understanding of fundamental physiology and earned him the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with William G. Kaelin Jr. and Gregg L. Semenza, for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of oxygen-sensing in cells.

Sir Peter was born on 14 May 1954 in Lancashire, England, and educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School. He won a scholarship to study medicine at Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge, and completed his clinical training at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. He later trained in nephrology and established his research career at the University of Oxford, where he has spent the bulk of his professional life.

He serves as Director of the Target Discovery Institute in the Nuffield Department of Medicine at Oxford, Professor of Clinical Medicine, and Director of Clinical Research at the Francis Crick Institute in London. He is also a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. His laboratory’s research focuses on cellular responses to hypoxia (low oxygen) and the signalling pathways that regulate the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), a key transcription factor that enables cells to adapt to changes in oxygen availability. This work has deep implications for understanding diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, vascular disease, and anaemia.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Sir Peter has received numerous other prestigious honours, including the Canada Gairdner International Award and the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, and was knighted in 2014 for his services to clinical medicine.