Professor Christopher Byrne PhD, FRCPath, FRCP
Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Honorary Consultant Diabetologist & Metabolic Physician

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Prof Byrne is a clinical academic metabolic physician whose principal area of research focusses on non alcoholic fatty liver disease (metabolic-associated fatty liver disease).
Prof Byrne is a leader in metabolic medicine with a research focus on diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). His research spans epidemiology to basic mechanisms and innovative clinical trials. His expertise was recognised in 2019 when he was ranked 7th in the world and first amongst UK-based researchers for NAFLD research between 2009 and 2019. A good example is his pivotal work that provided key evidence for the NICE NAFLD Guideline (ng49) in 2016 showed that omega-3 fatty acid treatment of NAFLD fails to improve the condition in all patients (2014), in part, because non-responders possess the PNPLA3 148MM genotype. Another example of his work in the field was to show that synbiotic treatment improved intestinal microbiota but not liver disease in patients with NAFLD (2020).
His work on the cost effectiveness of different NHS models for establishing a Genetic testing service for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) facilitated him developing with colleagues the first in England NHS service, for FH Genetic testing that is located at University Hospital Southampton.
Prof Byrne was the Inaugural Director of the Southampton NIHR Clinical Research Facility. He has supervised 18 PhD/MD researchers and has used his leadership across the globe to disseminate emerging knowledge on NAFLD. His research leadership, has been recognised by a number of prestigious awards including the Fournier Lipidology Award, British Hyperlipidaemia Association and Parke Davis/Pfizer Award, the John French Lectureship award, the Eli Lilly Award and the Dorothy Hodgkin Lecture Award. The strong translational direction of his research led to his selection as a NICE Expert Advisor, original member of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes NAFLD Study group, the PANNASH group of international experts and President of the Metabolic/Cardiovascular/Lipids Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Achievements
- MRC Training Fellow 1990-92
- Pfizer Academic Travel Award 1991
- Peel Trust Travelling Fellow 1992-93
- Cambridge University/Parke Davis Travelling Fellow 1993-94
- MRC Fellow 1994-99
- Fournier Lipidology Award 1999
- British Hyperlipidaemia Association & Parke Davis/Pfizer Award 1999
- John French Lectureship 1999
- Eli Lilly Award 2000
- Membership Association of Physicians 2003
- Dorothy Hodgkin Award Diabetes UK 2012
- President RSM Lipids, Metabolism and Vascular Risk section (2013 - 2016 )
Qualifications
- MB BCh University of Wales (medicine honours) (1983),
- PhD University of Cambridge (1992), FRCP UK (2000), FRCPath UK (2002)
Appointments held
- MRC Training Fellow, University Depts of Clin Biochem & Medicine, Postgraduate student Downing College Cambridge 1989-1992
- Senior Registrar Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital 1991-1992
- Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California USA, 1992-1994
- MRC Fellow, Hon Consultant Physician, & Senior Research Associate, Depts of Clinical Biochemistry & Medicine, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge 1994-1999
- Director Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, Southampton University Hospitals Trust, 4/1999 to 10/2003