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British Covid vaccine developer to collect damehood

Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert is a professor of vaccinology at Oxford University.
Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert is a professor of vaccinology at Oxford University. Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert is a professor of vaccinology at Oxford University.

A British scientist will collect her damehood for helping to create the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine credited with saving millions of lives around the world.

Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert will receive the honour for services to science and public health in Covid vaccine development at a ceremony at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.

The professor of vaccinology at Oxford University co-created the jab which has been used by more than 2.5 billion people in more than 170 countries.

Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2021
Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2021 Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, one of the creators of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine (Steve Parsons/PA)

The 59-year-old has previously received massive praise for her work, including being given an impromptu standing ovation from the crowd at Wimbledon when she attended the tournament last summer.

The mother of triplets was also honoured by toymaker Mattel which launched a Barbie doll in her image.

Classical pianist Dame Imogen Cooper will receive her damehood for services to music.

Dame Imogen was a recipient of the Queen’s Medal for Music in recognition of her major influence on the musical life of the nation. Through her Imogen Cooper Music Trust, she also gives scholarships to promising young musicians.

Audiences at Buckingham Palace
Audiences at Buckingham Palace Dame Imogen Cooper at Buckingham Palace, where she was presented with the Queen’s Medal for Music (Aaron Chown/PA)

Conductor Daniel Harding and pianist and composer Eleanor Alberga are also to collect their honours.

Artist Michael Landy, of the Young British Artists movement, will receive a CBE for services to art.

Mr Landy is best known for Break Down, a piece of performance art in which he systematically destroyed all his belongings, and for Art Bin, in Camberwell, south London, where people could bring their artistic failures for assessment by Mr Landy and which were dumped in a vast skip if he deemed the pieces were not worth saving.

Sculptor Veronica Ryan will be given an OBE for services to art.

Ms Ryan’s work is exhibited in the Tate and she was commissioned by Hackney Council to make a public sculpture to celebrate the Windrush generation, unveiled in a Hackney street in October.

Motorcycle racer John McGuinness, who is hoping to win his 24th TT race in the Isle of Man in the summer, is due to collect his MBE for services to motorcycle racing.