molecular biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and new ways of delivering medicines into the TB infected cells. By studying how the human immune system responded to TB, Geddes hoped that the results would lead to a new vaccine, more effective than the BCG. In 1991 he became professor of infection at the University of Birmingham Medical School, where in 1994 he became its Deputy Dean then Associate Dean from 1999 to 2002. He has served as civilian consultant in infectious diseases and tropical medicine to the Royal Navy, Deputy Chairman of the Tropical Diseases Research Board of the UK Medical Research Council, and the Committee on Safety of Medicines and of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. Later career Following the September 11 attacks, Geddes became an adviser on bioterrorism for the UK's Department of Health, his chief role being in the national smallpox plan and in biodefence training. In 2002, Geddes told the Global Health Security Initiative that the diagnosis of a smallpox case must not be underestimated. Differential diagnosis against influenza, chickenpox, Eczema herpeticum, Eczema vaccinatum and drug eruptions/erythema multiforme is necessary. The last smallpox case in Birmingham, UK, caused by a lab infection in 1978, was initially misdiagnosed by 3 physicians, leading to a significant delay in treatment and containment measures. This fact underlines the importance of an appropriate education and training of physicians to diagnose disease caused by bioterroristic agents as part of the preparedness plans. With smallpox in the media again after 2001, and noting that Parker had previously received two smallpox vaccinations, he became interested in how long immunity lasts in those who have previously been immunised. It led him to study and publish in 2005 an article on the Edinburgh smallpox outbreak of 1942, where six of the 36 cases of smallpox had received previous vaccination. The following year he published "The history of smallpox". In 2015, after 10 years in the post, he retired from his position as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. Awards and honours Geddes is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. From 1996 to 1998 he was president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. The following year, the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy awarded him the Garrod Medal, following which he delivered its accompanying lecture. In 2009, he received Honorary Membership of the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. He received the European Society