DAME Jenny Harries has been installed as the new Chancellor of Chester University at the city's cathedral, succeeding former local MP and TV star Gyles Brandreth.

The Monmouth School for Girls alumna, who still lives in the town, retired as founding chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency last year, having previously been a key figure in tackling the Covid pandemic as Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, when she made several national TV appearances at No 10 alongside then prime minister Boris Johnson.

Chester University is the fifth oldest higher educational establishment in England, dating back to 1839, when its founders included future prime ministers William Gladstone and Edward Stanley.

And Dame Jenny, 67, a former Director of Public Health for Monmouthshire, said at her recent installation at the university’s graduation day: “It seems almost impossible to me that I should be standing here assuming the role of Chancellor at this institution, whose origins extend back two centuries, and to do so in such a wonderfully historic building and surrounded by such glorious pomp and ceremony, when many years ago my initial plan in life was simply to go to university and do a course that would help people.”

She added that the “highly successful modern university” had “retained its strong foundation in education”, with “an award-winning Business School, a Law School, a Medical School” and “innovative courses", such as the sustainability education linked with Chester Zoo, as well as its international alumni numbering more than 100,000.

As a doctor and public health professional, Dame Jenny added: “I am clearly itching – although that might not be a very healthy idiom to use – to work with Chester Medical School, where I already see developing a unique programme of community-focused medical training, so needed by global communities, and which I believe Chester can own uniquely and excel in.”

An honorary Professor of Public Health at the university since 2019, Dame Jenny concluded by saying: “Together we already live a proud tradition in this university and together we have the opportunity to deliver a social mission – through every department, every graduate and every student.

"I am really looking forward to writing the next chapter with you all.”

Dame Jenny, who became a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Gwent in 2023, has made major contributions to several UK health protection responses, including Ebola, Zika, the first mpox case, MERS and the Novichok attacks at Salisbury.

From 2021, as founding chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the large multi-disciplinary science and evidence-based organisation tasked with protecting the nation from external health threats, she launched two global firsts: a Centre for Climate and Health Security, and a Health Equity for Security Strategy.

The agency has contributed significantly to progressing new diagnostic tests and vaccines, while overseeing response teams across five continents.

She was made an OBE in 2016 for services to Public Health and a DBE in 2022 for services to Health.

Last year, she also accepted the role of Community Pharmacy England’s (CPE) new chair and was appointed Honorary Professor at Nottingham University.