Dame Marjorie Scardino Appointed Chairman of Council at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

LONDON, October 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Dame Marjorie Scardino has been appointed as the new Chairman of Council at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, taking up her post from 1 November.

She replaces Sir Tim Lankester, who stands down after nearly a decade as Chairman, during which the School has grown to become a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health.

Commenting on her appointment, Dame Marjorie said: "It's an honour to be associated with such a distinguished teaching and research organisation, which has outstanding leadership and faculty, and an ambitious body of students. The School's success in translating its work into human benefits is a compelling story that I hope, with the very able Council, to help build and spread."

Council is the School's governing body and has overall responsibility for its operational and strategic management. Council members fulfil their roles in accordance with the School's Royal Charter.

Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

"We are delighted that Dame Marjorie will be our new Chairman of Council. Her wealth of experience as a global business leader, and her understanding of health and humanitarian work will be a tremendous asset as we continue to develop innovative research and education programmes and forge major new partnerships, such as the Bloomsbury Research Institute."

Dame Marjorie Scardino, DBE, FRSA, served as Chief Executive Officer of Pearson PLC from 1997 to December 2012. She trained and practised as a lawyer, becoming partner in a law firm in Savannah, Georgia, where she went on to publish the Pulitzer Prizewinning weekly newspaper The Georgia Gazette. In 1985, she joined The Economist Group as President of its North American operations and served as its Chief Executive Officer from 1993 to 1997.

After retiring from Pearson in 2013 Dame Marjorie is Chairman of the MacArthur Foundation, is on the boards of Twitter and IAG, and is a member of several charitable and advisory boards, including The Carter Center and The Royal College of Art.

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health, with 3,900 students and more than 1,000 staff working in over 100 countries. The School is one of the highest-rated research institutions in the UK, and among the world's leading schools in public and global health. Our mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice. http://www.lshtm.ac.uk