Professor Calum Semple OBE

Calum Semple is the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) for Scotland, a secondment that began in August 2025. 

Raised in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Calum studied Cell Pathology, Immunology, and Virology for his Batchelor’s Tripos before completing a PhD in Clinical Virology at University College London and qualifying in Medicine at Oxford. Calum has led research on HIV/AIDS, Bronchiolitis, Influenza, Ebola, Mpox, COVID-19 and Hepatitis, focusing on disease characterisation and clinical countermeasures. He co-founded the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) in 2012 and has received support from the Wellcome Trust, NIHR, and UKRI MRC. His leadership of therapeutic and discovery research in Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis earned his team the Queen’s Ebola Medal and their work with survivors was recognised by a Commonwealth Association Award. 

He has served in key advisory roles during public health emergencies, including the UK Government Pandemic Influenza Clinical Operations Sub-Group for the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic (PICO-SG 2009-10), WHO’s Scientific Technical Advisory Committee for the Ebola Emergency (STAC-EE 2014–17), New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threat Advisory Group (NERVTAG 2014–23) and UK Government Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies for COVID-19 (SAGE 2020–22). He was appointed OBE in 2020 and elected Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health by Distinction in 2022. 

Outside of work, Calum enjoys family time, walking his dogs, beekeeping, playing the pipes and fly fishing.