Tom Solomon (neurologist)

Thomas Solomon CBE (born c. 1966) is professor of neurology at the University of Liverpool, and director of both the Pandemic Institute and of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections (HPRU EZI), which led the UK response to Ebola, Zika virus disease, and the COVID-19 pandemic. He is vice president (international) of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and academic vice president at the Royal College of Physicians of London. He leads the Liverpool Brain Infections Group, which studies infections in the brain, particularly Japanese encephalitis, enterovirus 71 and other types of meningitis.

Solomon was raised in Manchester before being accepted to study medicine at Wadham College, Oxford, followed by training at the John Radcliffe Hospital. As a house officer in 1990, he provided care for the children's author Roald Dahl, who had at the time been diagnosed with leukaemia. Their conversations became the foundation of Solomon's 2016 book titled Roald Dahl's Marvellous Medicine, in which he explores the impact of medicine on Dahl’s life.

Solomon has set two Guiness World Records, one for running the fastest marathon dressed as a doctor in 2010, and another for forming a human model of the brain in 2016. His science communication work as the "Running Mad Professor" raises awareness of emerging brain infections, as well as helping raise funds for charity. In 2021 he received a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his contributions to the study of emerging viruses.