Sir Marcus Henry Richmond, FRCP, FRCPath, FRS (born 1 February 1931), known as Mark Richmond, is a British biochemist, microbiologist and academic.
Richmond was born in 1931, the son of H. S. Richmond, a film producer. He was educated at Epsom College from 1944 to 1949,[1] and then studied biochemistry at Clare College, Cambridge, and remained there as a postgraduate for three years.[1][2]
Following his doctorate he worked for the National Institute for Medical Research, subsequent to which he was a reader in molecular biology at the University of Edinburgh.[2]
In 1968 he became Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Bristol, working on staphylococcal plasmids and antibiotic resistance.[2] From 1980, he was Vice Chancellor of the University of Manchester and served for 12 years until 1992.[2]
He became Global Head of Research for Glaxo in 1991.[2]
He retired in 1996 and took up a position as Honorary Fellow in the School of Public Policy at University College London.[2]
He served as chair of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the United Kingdom and of the Science and Engineering Research Council during his time at Manchester.[2] Following formal retirement, he has been a non-executive director of several companies, including Genentech, OSI Pharmaceuticals and Ark Therapeutics.[2]
He received the Robert Koch Medal in 1976, and the Biochemical Society's Colworth Medal.[when?][2] In 1982 he received the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy's Garrod Medal and delivered its accompanying lecture.[3]
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1980[4] and was knighted in the 1986 Birthday Honours.[5] He was also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath).[1]