The announcement was made as the PHG Foundation celebrated its 25th Anniversary at a gala dinner on Thursday 20 April at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Pete is currently an Associate Director at the UK’s Nuffield Council on Bioethics, where he has recently directed the Council’s work programme on genome editing.
Pete brings extensive knowledge and experience in science, ethics and public policy to the PHG Foundation with its mission of making science work for health. He has worked on scientific development and bioethics at the Department of Health, where he led the Human Genetics Commission staff, and on assisted reproduction and embryo research policy for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Earlier work at the Nuffield Council led to reports on Emerging Biotechnologies (2012) and The Collection, Linking and Use of Data in Biomedical Research and Health Care (2015).
Pete has been involved with a number of international organisations, including the UNESCO Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee and the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Biotechnology, and as a UK delegate to the Council of Europe Bioethics Committee (DH-BIO).
The trustees of the PHG Foundation with Director Designate, Pete Mills. (Left to Right: Patrick Maxwell, Ron Zimmern, Anthony Freeling, Pete Mills, Liba Taub & Andrew Hutton)
Quote from Dr Ron Zimmern, Chair of the PHG Foundation
I am delighted to welcome Dr Pete Mills as the next Director of the PHG Foundation. The Board of Trustees at the PHG Foundation is extremely pleased that Pete, whose experience and expertise are so well aligned with our mission and interests, has agreed to take on this role. He will succeed the current Director Dr Mark Kroese, who has led the PHG Foundation since 2017. I am enormously grateful to Mark for what he has done for us over the years and for having left the organisation in such an excellent shape.
I look forward greatly to working with Pete and to see how his expertise and experience in genomics policy will influence the development of the next phase of work at the Foundation. I know that all the staff here are also excited to work with him.
Quote from Dr Pete Mills, Director Designate of the PHG Foundation
I am genuinely honoured and delighted to be taking up the role of Director of the PHG Foundation. I have long admired the work of the Foundation and its unwavering commitment to making science work for health. This is a mission that has only gained in importance over the last 25 years, which have witnessed extraordinary achievements in the science of genomics and related technologies.
I look forward to working with the Foundation’s talented staff, and with the board and its Chair, Ron Zimmern, whose founding vision continues to animate PHG’s work. I am enormously grateful to my predecessor, Mark Kroese, for his exceptional contribution to burnishing PHG’s reputation and for passing on this responsibility with the Foundation in such a strong position. It is my sincere hope that those looking back after another quarter-century will recognise, as we do now, the Foundation’s signal contribution to making science work for health, for all.
Pete will take over leadership of the PHG Foundation from current Director Dr Mark Kroese from 5 June 2023.