Anne Cooke

Anne Cooke (née Syme; born 14 November 1945) is a British biologist and academic, specialising in immunology and autoimmune diseases. From 2000 to 2013, she was Professor of Immunobiology at the University of Cambridge. She was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, between 1992 and 2013.

Early life Cooke was born on 14 November 1945 in South Shields, England, to William and Margaret Syme. She studied biochemistry at the University of Glasgow and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in 1967. She then undertook postgraduate research in biochemistry and immunology at the University of Sussex. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1970.

Academic career Cooke began her academic career as a postdoctoral fellow. From 1970 to 1972, she held a SRC postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Sussex. From 1972 to 1973, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois and worked at the Medical Center, Chicago, USA. From 1973 to 1978, she held an Arthritis Research UK postdoctoral research fellowship in the Immunology Department of Middlesex Hospital. Then from 1978 to 1981, while remaining at Middlesex Hospital, she was a Wellcome Trust senior research fellow. From 1988 to 1990, she was Reader in Experimental Immunology at University College London. In 2013, she retired from full-time academia; she was appointed professor emeritus and made an emeritus fellow of King's College.

Personal life In 1969, the then Anne Syme married Jonathan Cooke. Together, they have two sons. On 18 November 2010, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Copenhagen. In 2011, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB).

Selected works