Danny Altmann

{{Short description|British immunologist}}

{{use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}

{{infobox academic

|education = {{plainlist|

• University of London
• University of Bristol}}

|workplaces=Imperial College London

}}

Danny Altmann is a British immunologist, and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London.{{Cite news |last=Davis |first=Nicola |date=December 30, 2020 |title=How well does the Oxford vaccine work? What we know so far |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/30/how-well-does-the-oxford-vaccine-work-what-we-know-so-far |work=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230082051/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/30/how-well-does-the-oxford-vaccine-work-what-we-know-so-far |archive-date=2020-12-30}}{{Cite web |date=19 November 2019 |title=Prof. Danny Altmann |url=https://www.bactivax.eu/principal-investigators-2/dannyaltmann |website=Bactivax |access-date=30 December 2020 |archive-date=30 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230010710/https://www.bactivax.eu/principal-investigators-2/dannyaltmann |url-status=live }}

Altmann earned a bachelor's degree from the University of London in 1980, and a PhD from the University of Bristol in 1983 on T cell immunity to herpesviruses.{{Cite web |title=Daniel Altmann (0000-0002-2436-6192) |url=https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2436-6192 |website=ORCID |access-date=30 December 2020 |archive-date=24 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224063658/http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2436-6192 |url-status=live }}

Altmann is the son of John Altmann,{{Cite news |date=2018-05-04 |title=John Altmann |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-jewish-chronicle/20180504/282321090630655 |work=The Jewish Chronicle |via=PressReader |access-date=30 January 2021 |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203230932/https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-jewish-chronicle/20180504/282321090630655 |url-status=live }} who arrived as a refugee from the Holocaust on the Kindertransport,{{Cite news |last=Altmann |first=Danny |at=Snapshot: My father with other Kindertransport boys |date=October 15, 2016 |title=Family life: Kindertransport boys in London in 1939, There's a Kind of Hush, and Raspberry Splodge |url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/oct/15/family-life-kindertransport-boys-in-london-in-1939-theres-a-kind-of-hush-and-raspberry-splodge |website=The Guardian |access-date=30 January 2021 |archive-date=31 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531000654/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/oct/15/family-life-kindertransport-boys-in-london-in-1939-theres-a-kind-of-hush-and-raspberry-splodge |url-status=live }} and Marlene Altmann, who arrived after liberation from Auschwitz. Through her, he is in turn the great-grandson of German philanthropist {{Interlanguage link|Adolf Sternheim|de}}.{{Cite web |date=2009 |title=Adolf Sternheim - ein Menschenfreund (in German) |url=http://www.lemgo.net/fileadmin/pdf-lemgo/aktuell/pressemitteilung/Rede_von_Frau_Hehner-Ruegge.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020100837/http://www.lemgo.net/fileadmin/pdf-lemgo/aktuell/pressemitteilung/Rede_von_Frau_Hehner-Ruegge.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2013}}

Altmann runs a research lab at Imperial College's Hammersmith Hospital site, "focusing on HLA genes, T cells and NK cells in autoimmunity, cancer and infectious disease." He has been based there since 1994.{{Cite web |title=Research - Professor Danny Altmann |url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/d.altmann/research.html |website=Imperial College London |access-date=30 December 2020 |archive-date=29 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129132140/http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/d.altmann/research.html |url-status=live }} Between 2011 and 2013 he was also Head of Pathogens, Immunity and Population Health at the Wellcome Trust. He now runs a suite of projects focussed on understanding the immunology of Long Covid,{{Cite web |title=WILCO Long Covid study |url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/departments/immunology-inflammation/research/covid-19-research/wilco/ |access-date=2023-03-08 |website=Imperial College London |language=en-GB |archive-date=31 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531000745/https://www.imperial.ac.uk/immunology-inflammation/research/covid-19-research/wilco/ |url-status=live }} which has included co-authoring The Long Covid Handbook.{{Cite book |last=Medinger |first=Gez |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/on1338680988 |title=The long Covid handbook |last2=Altmann |first2=Danny |date=2022 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-1-5299-0012-5 |series=Penguin health handbooks |location=London |language=en |oclc=on1338680988 |access-date=31 May 2024 |archive-date=31 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531000705/https://search.worldcat.org/title/on1338680988 |url-status=live }}

He is editor-in-chief of Oxford Open Immunology.{{Cite web |url=https://academic.oup.com/ooim |title=Oxford Open Immunology |website=Oxford Academic |access-date=30 January 2021 |archive-date=30 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130234725/https://academic.oup.com/ooim |url-status=live }} For 20 years, Altmann was editor of British Society for Immunology (BSI) journals, including 14-years as editor-in-chief at Immunology, and is an associate editor at Vaccine and Frontiers in Immunology. Altmann is a trustee of the Medical Research Foundation. He has sat on the Strategy Board of the African Research Excellence Fund since its inception.{{Cite web |title=Strategy Board |url=https://www.africaresearchexcellencefund.org.uk/strategy-board |website=Africa Research Excellence Fund |access-date=30 January 2021 |archive-date=4 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204010153/https://www.africaresearchexcellencefund.org.uk/strategy-board |url-status=dead }}

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has served in a number of policy advisory roles.{{Cite web |title=What do we know about the SARSCoV2 virus and its transmission |url=https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/media-centre/house-of-lords-media-notices/2020/may-20/what-do-we-know-about-the-sarscov2-virus-and-its-transmission/ |website=www.parliament.uk |access-date=30 January 2021 |archive-date=24 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124002457/https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/media-centre/house-of-lords-media-notices/2020/may-20/what-do-we-know-about-the-sarscov2-virus-and-its-transmission/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=The Science and Technology Committee: News Updates |url=https://www.sciencecentres.org.uk/coronavirus/science-and-technology-committee-news-updates/ |website=The Association for Science and Discovery Centres |access-date=30 January 2021 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123121044/https://www.sciencecentres.org.uk/coronavirus/science-and-technology-committee-news-updates/ |url-status=live }} He has been a member of Independent SAGE since December 2021.{{Cite web |title=Who are we? |website=Independent SAGE |url=https://www.independentsage.org/who-are-independent-sage/ |access-date=2023-03-08 |language=en-GB |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329133805/https://www.independentsage.org/who-are-independent-sage/ |url-status=live }} He was the guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific in February 2023.{{Cite episode |series=The Life Scientific |network=BBC Radio 4 |title=Danny Altmann on how T cells fight disease |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jkqn |access-date=14 March 2023 |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314093928/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jkqn |url-status=live }}