• Keele professor receives Gibraltar Award for his work linked to the Covid-19 pandemic 
• Ian Cumming OBE led the response to the pandemic in the UK’s 14 Overseas Territories
• The honour is awarded by the Gibraltar Honours Board (GHB) and announced alongside The King’s Birthday Honours

A professor who played a key role in the response to the Covid pandemic in the UK’s Overseas Territories has said he is "deeply honoured" to receive a prestigious award in recognition for his work.

Professor Ian Cumming OBE, from Keele’s School of Medicine, travelled across the globe during the pandemic to set up the infrastructure needed across the 14 territories to tackle the virus including hospitals, testing facilities and vaccination programmes.

Now he has been awarded the Gibraltar Award, which is given out by the Gibraltar Honours Board (GHB) and announced alongside The King's Birthday Honours. The vaccination programmes of the 14 territories – including Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands and Bermuda - was hailed a success, with Gibraltar becoming the first place in the world to vaccinate its whole population.

Professor Cumming said: "I am deeply honoured to have been awarded the Gibraltar Award for services to the Gibraltar Health Authority during Covid.

"This award is, however, not just for me but for the many dedicated and talented people who do their very best to protect and improve the health of the population of Gibraltar. This award is made even more special to me as I understand that I am the first non-Gibraltarian recipient."

As well as his work in the Overseas Territories, Ian is Professor of Global Healthcare at Keele, and is playing a significant role in the 'Keele Deal | Health' initiative as well as working with the Institute for Global Health to build international partnerships and educate students on healthcare systems of countries around the world.

You can hear more about Ian’s involvement in the Covid response, challenges and issued faced during that period, in the latest Keele Podcast episode.