Vivienne Parry
Vivienne Parry is a British science journalist and author. Born Vivienne Mary Hunt Mills on 4 June 1956 in Portsmouth, England, she is the head of engagement at Genomics England. She is best known for presenting the BBC science programmes Tomorrow’s World and Panorama and for writing for The Guardian’s online content.
She went to St Swithun’s School in Winchester and studied Zoology at Bedford College, London, graduating with a BSc in 1978. She also studied immunology and genetics at University College London (UCL).
Her first job was as National Organiser of Birthright, a charity for mothers and babies, from 1979 to 1994. She worked closely with the charity’s Patron, the Princess of Wales, for 12 years and briefly served as a trustee of the Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. She has served as vice chairman of the council of UCL and was a member of the Council of the Medical Research Council since 2009. In 2017 she joined the board of UKRI.
In 1994 Parry became a presenter on the BBC TV science programme Tomorrow’s World and also reported for Panorama, staying with Tomorrow’s World until 1997. She has hosted numerous science radio programmes, including all eight series of Am I Normal? and Inside the Ethics Committee, and has contributed to BBC World Service and BBC Radio 3.
Her book The Truth About Hormones was published in 2009 and was nominated for the Aventis Science Prize (now the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books). She received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2012 and the Suffrage Science award in 2011. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2011 for services to public understanding of science.
On the personal side, she married Paul Parry in 1978; they had two sons and later divorced in 2007. In 2012 she married Tim Joss, who died in March 2024.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:55 (CET).