Professor David Latchman CBE is the Vice-Chancellor of Birkbeck College, University of London, a post he took up in January 2003.   He is also Professor of Genetics at Birkbeck and UCL.

He obtained a BA with first class honours in Natural Sciences, specialising in Genetics, from the University of Cambridge in 1978 and was awarded a PhD in 1981 and a DSc in 1994.

After academic posts in the Departments of Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Pathology at UCL he was appointed to the Chair of Human Genetics at UCL and became Dean of the Institute of Child Health (ICH) in 1999.

Professor Latchman has published extensively in the field of Genetics and Molecular Biology and has a proven track record as a fund-raiser, having raised over £9 million whilst Dean at the Institute of Child Health.  He also has significant experience of the commercial exploitation of intellectual property, having obtained Venture Capital funding to found a Company (BioVex Ltd) on the basis of patents developed by his laboratory in the area of gene therapy.

Professor Latchman was awarded the CBE for services to Higher Education in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List of June 2010.