Portrait of Professor Cath Green unveiled in Exeter College Library

On 13 May 2024, Exeter College held an unveiling of a portrait of Professor Cath Green OBE by Naima Aouni. Professor Green is an Exeter College Fellow by Special Election and an Associate Professor at Oxford’s Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics. She is well-known for her pivotal role in the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for SARS-CoV-2.

In 2020, alongside Professor Sarah Gilbert of the Nuffield Department of Medicine, Cath Green developed a vaccine against the backdrop of a pandemic and global concern. Within a year, the Oxford vaccine was developed, proving to be over 70% effective and, crucially, affordable both to produce and to distribute.

Billions of doses of the COVID-AstraZeneca vaccine have now been administered worldwide. Since the advent of its mass distribution, Cath Green has co-written and published Vaxxers with Professor Gilbert, a book detailing the behind-the-scenes story of the vaccine. In 2021, she was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to Science and Public Health. The same year, the Oxford Vaccine team was granted a Special Recognition Award at the Pride of Britain awards.

The portrait of Cath Green will hang in the main ground floor wing of the newly renovated Exeter College Library as a testament to the College’s commitment to cutting-edge research and Professor Green’s inspiring example.

Professor Cath Green and Rector Rick Trainor at the portrait unveiling