Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam is a British medical doctor, specialising in public health, epidemiology, and respiratory viruses.

He is best known for being England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, where his early years in post were spent in relative anonymity. Thrust fully into the limelight early 2020 by the Covid-19 pandemic, he became an overnight public sensation because of his innate ability to communicate extraordinary things to ordinary people in an understandable way. We were reassured by his calm presence behind the podium, where the fear and confusion, and lack of trust in our political leaders was tempered with his no-nonsense briefings, packed with metaphors about yogurts, trains, and football.

But what was it about the way he conducted himself that made the British public embrace him as they did? In his natural self-effacing way, JVT would possibly say that he couldn’t answer that, citing instead, a number of different experiences, mentors, and skills that brought him to this point.