Doctor goes from Miss World to saving the world! Former Miss England is part of Oxford University team carrying out crucial coronavirus vaccines work
- Carina Tyrrell is a one-time Miss England as well as a doctor and academic
- She has been part of the team at Oxford University working on the Covid vaccine
- Her father is a physicist and her mother worked at the World Health Organisation
- She was crowned Miss England in 2014 came fourth in Miss World later that year
- But her childhood dream was to tackle global problems, such as malaria
Being at the forefront of the battle against Covid brings to mind images of boffins in white coats.
But as a one-time Miss England, doctor and academic Carina Tyrrell is equally at home in bikinis and flowing ballgowns.
Carina Tyrrell, 31, ditched bikinis, ball gowns and beauty pageants to spend the last year spearheading ground-breaking research at Oxford University.
The hero scientist has now spoken of her delight after her work helped Britain become the first in the world to begin vaccinating people against the virus.
Dr Tyrrell MA MB BChir MPH – to give her full title – is now regarded as one of the brightest young minds in the country six years after she won Miss England in 2014.
She came fourth in the Miss World competition that same year but has spent the last 12 months working around the clock to help find a coronavirus vaccine.
Carina Tyrrell, who was crowned in 2014 then came fourth in Miss World that year, has been part of a team at Oxford University carrying out crucial work on coronavirus vaccines and clinical trials
Dr Tyrrell found herself at the forefront of Britain’s biggest public health crisis in over 100 years following her cutting-edge work with the World Health Organisation.
She also boasts a first-class medical degree from Cambridge University, front-line hospital experience as a junior doctor and a Master’s in public health.
Dr Tyrrell has been part of the Oxford University team tirelessly working to make sure the vaccines are safe to be rolled out to all members of the British public.
The 31-year-old said her vitally-important work is a far cry from her beauty pageant days but said: ‘I still really support both Miss World and Miss England and I still judge the Miss England contest.
‘But I didn’t think six years on I would be part of a team searching for a vaccine during a global pandemic on this scale.
‘It’s obviously being rolled out now and it’s fantastic that all the hard work has paid off.
‘It has been tough at times when you think of all the families that have suffered and we’ve worked hard to get to this point.’
Since being crowned Miss England in 2014 (pictured left), Dr Carina Tyrrell has gone on to spend the last year fighting against the clock to help find a vaccine for COVID-19
Dr Tyrrell was born in Switzerland to British parents – her father Mark is a physicist who helped to build the Large Hadron Collider and her mother Sue used to work at the World Health Organisation.
At the end of her fifth year at university she won her age category at a fashion show after spotting an advert for it in a shopping centre.
That led to her entering the Miss England competition.
Dr Tyrrell’s childhood dream was to tackle global problems such as malaria. She was working with the WHO conducting research on pandemics when the virus emerged, and has been part of a team at Oxford University carrying out crucial work on coronavirus vaccines
But her childhood dream was to tackle global problems such as malaria. She was working with the WHO conducting research on pandemics when the virus emerged.
‘Like many researchers around the world, everybody stopped what they were doing and offered their time to the pandemic,’ she said.
Dr Tyrrell, who lost an uncle to Covid, said of the vaccine: ‘It’s fantastic all the hard work’s paid off.’