Nancy Rothwell

Dame Nancy Jane Rothwell (born 2 October 1955) is a British physiologist. She has served as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester since July 2010, having served as Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor until January 2010. Rothwell served as non-executive director of pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca from 2006 to 2015, co-chair of the Council for Science and Technology and past President of the Royal Society of Biology. She is a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester and since September 2020 has been chair of the Russell Group, which represents 24 of the leading universities in the UK. In March 2021, students at the University of Manchester passed a vote of no confidence in Rothwell due to her response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Education Rothwell was born in Tarleton, a village near Preston, Lancashire. She was educated at Penwortham Girls' Grammar School and then went to college where she took A-levels in maths, physics, chemistry and art, having dropped biology aged 14. She enrolled at the University of London and obtained a first-class degree in physiology (1976) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree (1979) from Queen Elizabeth College, now part of King's College, London. Rothwell was later awarded a Doctor of Science degree in 1987 by King's College London and an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Bath in 2009.