University of Leicester recognises professor’s outstanding service to healthcare and medical profession

The University of Leicester has honoured one of its former professors in recognition of his outstanding service to the healthcare and medical profession.

Professor Sir Kent Woods’ achievements were recognised today (Friday 17 July) when he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science during a graduation ceremony held at De Montfort Hall.

Professor Woods served as the first chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulation Agency (MHRA), between 2004 and 2013.

Under his guiding hand, the MHRA established its vital function as an integral part of healthcare and medical provision within the UK. Its stated purpose is to ensure that all medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the UK meet the required standards of safety, quality and effectiveness; to secure safe supply chains for them; to promote international harmonisation; to educate the public and healthcare professionals about the risks and benefits of medicines; and to enable innovation research and development beneficial to public health in collaboration with partners in the UK and internationally.

Before taking up this post, Professor Woods was regional director of research and development at NHS Executive Trent, and then director of the NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme.

Graduating in medicine from Cambridge in 1972, he did his higher clinical training in Birmingham and at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 1984, Professor Woods was appointed Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Leicester, becoming Professor of Therapeutics in 1996 and Emeritus in 2017. He has also spent 20 years working as an honorary consultant physician at Leicester Royal Infirmary.

From 2015 to 2021, Professor Woods served as deputy chair of the board of trustees, and chair of the advisory council, for the British Heart Foundation (BHF). On his retirement from the board, the BHF awarded him a distinguished fellowship. He also held the position of chair of the European Medicines Agency’s management board for six years and was elected a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2008. In 2011 he was knighted for his services to healthcare.

Reflecting on his award, Professor Woods said: “When the University of Leicester agreed my secondment to be the founding chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), it showed its willingness to contribute to the UK’s health agenda. This honorary DSc is a recognition of the science underpinning UK medicines regulation, which is world-class and a team effort of 1,200 MHRA staff. For me personally, it is a great pleasure to receive the award from a University with which I have been associated for over 40 years.” 

President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester, Professor Sir Nishan Canagarajah, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Professor Woods back to the University of Leicester to receive this much-deserved honorary title.

“Professor Woods has enjoyed a stellar career, much of it here, teaching, and conducting research and clinical practice at the University and just down the road at the Royal Infirmary.

“But what truly sets him apart from many of his peers is the pioneering work he has undertaken with the MHRA, where his input has led to meaningful benefits for public health, not just here, but around the world. He is a true Citizen of Change.”