Main content

Professor Sharon Peacock, scientist

Sharon Peacock, professor of public health, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury item she would take with her if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Professor Sharon Peacock is professor of public health and microbiology at Cambridge University. In March 2020 she set up the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium to map the genetic sequence of the virus as it spread and mutated. Within a year COG-UK was leading the world in identifying mutant COVID strains, and this data was instrumental in helping the development of vaccines and treatments.

Sharon was born in Margate and left school at 16 to work in her local corner shop. She moved on to become a dental nurse the following year and after that she trained to be a nurse at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. After studying for A levels at evening classes, in 1983 she won a place to study medicine as a mature student at the University of Southampton.

After further training and several years researching bacterial diseases in Thailand, she returned to the UK where she led the development of the Cambridge Infectious Diseases Initiative.

In 2021 Sharon was awarded the MRC Millennium Medal, the Medical Research Council’s most prestigious prize.

DISC ONE: Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
DISC TWO: A Boy and a Girl - Voces8
DISC THREE: Time Has Told Me - Nick Drake
DISC FOUR: Title: Driving Home for Christmas - Chris Rea
DISC FIVE: Take a Bow - Muse
DISC SIX: Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 (from Fauré’s Requiem) Composed by Gabriel Fauré and performed by Choir of St. John's College, conducted by Andrew Nethsingha
DISC SEVEN: Symphonie Fantastique by Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, composed by Hector Berlioz, performed by Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
DISC EIGHT: The Lark Ascending, composed by Vaughan Williams and performed by Tasmin Little (violin) Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis

BOOK CHOICE: Oxford Textbook of Medicine
LUXURY ITEM: A projector and photos
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Time Has Told Me – Nick Drake

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley

Available now

38 minutes

Last on

Fri 26 May 2023 09:00

Music Played

  • Tracy Chapman

    Fast Car

    • Tracy Chapman.
    • Elektra Records.
    • 2.
  • VOCES8

    A Boy and a Girl

    • After Silence.
    • VOCES8 Records.
    • 8.
  • Nick Drake

    Time Has Told Me

    • Five Leaves Left.
    • UMC (Universal Music Catalogue).
    • 1.
  • Chris Rea

    Driving Home For Christmas

    • The Very Best of Chris Rea.
    • EastWest U.K..
    • 15.
  • Muse

    Take A Bow

    • Black Holes and Revelations.
    • Warner Records.
    • 1.
  • Gabriel Fauré

    Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11

    Performer: Timothy Ravalde. Performer: Graham Walker. Conductor: Andrew Nethsingha.
    • Hear My Words - Choral Classics from St. John's.
    • Chandos.
    • 13.
  • Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie Fantastique

    Orchestra: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • The John Eliot Gardiner Collection.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 36.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Lark Ascending

    Performer: Tasmin Little. Orchestra: Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Degs.
    • The Lark Ascending.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 22.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 21 May 2023 11:15
  • Fri 26 May 2023 09:00

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast