Alex Churchill

Alex Churchill is a Deputy Director at the Department of Health and Social Care and Head of Commercial Clinical Trials. Alex joined DHSC in Sept 2020 as a Deputy Director within the Global Health and Health Protection Group, which included leading procurement and supply within the COVID-19 Therapeutics Taskforce. He was Head of Science and Security at the Government Office for Science, where he led the secretariat for several SAGE activations including initial phases of COVID-19. He led a review of Science and Technology applied to Aviation Security, supported work on environmental assessment following the Grenfell Fire, led the creation of the Government’s Areas of Research Interest, and produced an assessment of Government Science Capability published as ‘Realising our ambition through science’. Before joining the Government Office for Science, Alex was Deputy Head of Science and Technology Strategy in the Ministry of Defence. He had a senior role in policy setting in Science and Technology, including contributing to several White Papers and leading on international collaboration. Alex holds a PhD and first-class honours BSc in Physics from Imperial College. Prior to joining the Civil Service, he carried out research at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge.