William Osmond Charles Cookson - Biography#

William Cookson trained as a physician in Australia before moving to Oxford in 1984 to train in molecular research. He began genetic studies of asthma as a DPhil (Oxford PhD), student rising to become Professor of Human Genetics twelve years later.

In 2004 he moved to the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, where he as served as Head of the Respiratory Division, Director of the Asmarley Centre for Genomic Medicine and Director of the National Centre for Mesothelioma Research.

Cookson has held over €40million in research grants over his career. He has been a National Institute of Health Research Senior Investigator, and was the first clinician-scientist to be given a joint Wellcome Senior Investigator Award, with his long-standing research partner Miriam Moffatt.

He lead (with E. von Mutius) the EC funded GABRIEL project involving 17 different countries in the study of genetic and environmental determinants of asthma. GABRIEL was a huge success in bringing together geneticists, epidemiologists and immunologists from across Europe, leaving a legacy of young scientists (now leaders) with a tradition of co-operation across borders and disciplines.