A leading London medical school has appointed its first female principal.

Jenny Higham will take over as principal of St George¡¯s, University of London, in November.

Professor Higham, a consultant gynaecologist, is currently vice-dean for institutional affairs and director of education in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London.

She has previously held a number of senior positions during her 18 years at Imperial, including head of undergraduate medicine.

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Professor Higham also helped to establish the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore, a joint medical school with Nanyang Technological University, of which she is senior vice-dean.

She will succeed Peter Kopelman at St George¡¯s, who is stepping down from the University of London college after eight years in charge.

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St George¡¯s is the latest UK university to appoint a female leader in recent months.

These include Soas, University of London (Baroness Amos); the University of Sunderland (Shirley Atkinson); the University of Derby (Kathryn Mitchell); the University of Salford (Helen Marshall); the University of Brighton (Debra Humphris); and the University of Oxford (Louise Richardson).

It means the number of women leading universities will increase by about a third compared with last year.

On her appointment, Professor Higham said that she was ¡°absolutely delighted to be taking up the leadership role at St George¡¯s and privileged to be building on the successes of Peter Kopelman and his leadership team¡±.

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Professor Kopelman, outgoing principal of St George¡¯s, said that he was ¡°greatly impressed¡± by Professor Higham¡¯s ?¡°commitment and contributions to higher education and the NHS¡±.

¡°She brings with her to St George¡¯s a wealth of experience that has engaged all health professions and merited national and international recognition,¡± he said.

?jack.grove@tesglobal.com