Patrick Vallance named as UK’s next chief scientific adviser

The head of R&D at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been appointed as the UK government’s new chief scientific adviser and head of the government office for science. Patrick Vallance has worked for GSK since 2006. He became president of R&D in 2012 and joined the board of directors in 2017. He will leave the company at the end of March 2018 to take up the role advising the government on science and technology policy.