Hugh Montgomery

Hugh Edward Montgomery (born 20 October 1962) is an English professor of medicine and the director of the Centre for Human Health and Performance at University College London. He discovered that an allele of the gene with the DNA code for angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) influences physical fitness; this was the first discovery of a gene related to fitness. Academic career Montgomery was educated at Plymouth College. He obtained a 1st Class BSc degree in 1984 in neuropharmacology and cardiorespiratory physiology, before qualifying as a medical doctor in July 1987 from the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London. He was awarded the prize as most outstanding student during this time. In 1997, he was awarded his higher research degree (MDRes) for work on paracrine renin-angiotensin systems. He now directs the UCL centre for Human Health and Performance. He has authored nearly 500 research papers in journals such as Nature, The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine. and has received 11 national and international awards. His work has ranged from the development and application of gene-environment interaction studies (reporting the 'first gene for human physical performance'), to population genetic studies (being amongst the first to identify signatures of selection for high altitude amongst Tibetans) and work in artificial intelligence. He was research lead for the 2008 Xtreme Everest research expedition. He co-chairs the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, having co-chaired several previous commissions on the subject. He is a Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at UCL and practises as a consultant in critical care at the Whittington Hospital in north London. Montgomery was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to intensive care medicine and climate change.