Jean Thomas (biochemist)
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Professor Dame Jean Thomas |
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| 38th Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge | |
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In office 2007–2016 |
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| Preceded by | David S. Ingram |
| Succeeded by | Sir Mark Welland |
Dame Jean Olwen Thomas, DBE, CBE, FMedSci, FLSW, FRS (born 1 October 1942) is a Welsh biochemist and former Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
She was born in Treboeth, Swansea to John Robert and Lorna (née Harris) Thomas, and she attended Llwyn-y-Bryn High School for Girls. She continued her education at the University of Wales University College Swansea, now Swansea University. In 1964, she received her First Class B.Sc. in Chemistry, and in 1967, she was granted her Ph.D. in Chemistry for her thesis titled Hydroxyl-carbonyl interaction in cyclic peptides and depsipeptides. Upon receiving her Ph.D. in 1967, Thomas remained with Cambridge at Darwin College until 1969. During this time, she held a Beit Memorial Fellowship for Medical Research at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, a lab dedicated to understanding biological processes in order to solve major problems in human disease. She then served as a member of the University academic staff as well as a Fellow of New Hall, now Murray Edwards College, where she acted as vice president from 1983 to 1987. In 1985, during her time as vice president of New Hall, she received her degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Cambridge.
Thomas is a professor emeritus of macromolecular biochemistry at Cambridge and has been a professor there since 1991. She acted as chairman of the Cambridge Centre for Molecular Recognition between 1993 and 2003. In 2007, Thomas became a fellow of St. Catharine’s College, and in 2016, she became an honorary fellow. She was elected as the 38th master of St. Catharine’s College in 2007, making her the first female master since the college was founded in 1473. Elected by the president and fellows of the college, she remained master until 2016, when she was succeeded by Professor Sir Mark Welland. A scholarship fund called the Jean Thomas Ph.D. Award was created in her honor by alumnus of St. Catharine’s Peter Dawson. It grants one fully funded Ph.D. studentship per year to a student at St. Catharine’s.
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