Who is Yvonne Doyle? Her key role as Public Health England medical director, explained

Professor Yvonne Doyle was thrust into the public spotlight during the pandemic when she began appearing alongside Cabinet ministers at the daily No 10 coronavirus briefings.

As medical director for Public Health England, she provided updates on the latest data on Covid, such as case rates, hospitalisations and testing.

Following the launch of the UK’s vaccination programme, Professor Doyle gave video messages to say vaccines were “not a silver bullet” and that they would take time to reach the whole population.

She advised the public to continue to “maintain the behaviours that really prevent the transmission of the virus”, such as washing hands and wearing a face mask in crowded areas.

In September 2021 she moved to reassure parents that schools are not “drivers” or “hubs” of Covid infection.

Professor Doyle said she understood parents’ nervousness about schools returning after the summer in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but stressed that lots of measures to cut Covid spread remained in place.

Who is Professor Yvonne Doyle?

Professor Doyle, an Irish physician who was also director of health protection for Public Health England (PHE), joined the agency in December 2012. She qualified as a doctor and has worked in senior roles in the NHS and Department of Health and Social Care and in the academic and independent sectors.

Between 2013 to 2019 she provided leadership for health and reduction of inequalities at city-wide level to the population of London and was statutory adviser to the mayor of London before being appointed to her dual role at PHE.

Part of her job specification for this role was “ensuring effective planning and responses to public health emergencies throughout England”. She left in 2021.

She has acted as an adviser to the World Health Organisation on healthy cities and continues to take a research interest in urban health and the environment.

In 2016 Professor Doyle was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for services to public health.

Professor Doyle retired in April taking a “quiet exit” in her own words after 42 years in clinical and public health practice.

“Thank you to my brilliant teams and colleagues, keep focussed on the health of your population. I’ll be keeping engaged and cheering you on,” she said.

What will she say at the Covid inquiry?

Professor Doyle is likely to be asked at the Covid-19 inquiry about how closely senior politicians followed public health advice around social distancing, lockdowns and other Covid suppression measures.

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She could also be asked about the criticism the Government and Public Health England faced over the lack of available coronavirus tests as the pandemic took hold in the UK in spring 2020.

Asked at one daily briefing in April 2020 if PHE was “dragging its feet” in approving a new antibody test, Professor Doyle said it was important to make sure tests worked before rolling them out.

Professor Doyle also announced at one briefing that there would be five drive-through test centres in the UK, prioritising NHS staff before broadening out to the wider population.

Professor Doyle was mentioned in the notebooks of former chief scientific officer Sir Patrick Vallance, which were read out to the inquiry on Monday.

Sir Patrick was relieved to have been stood down from taking part in a coronavirus briefing by Dominic Cummings with Professor Doyle taking his place.