# Monique Simmonds

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{{Short description|English botanist, Royal Gardens Kew}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox scientist
| caption           = 
| birth_name        = Monique Sheelagh Jacquard Simmonds
| birth_date        = {{Birth year and age|1950|2}}
| alma_mater        = [University of Leeds](/source/University_of_Leeds) (BSc)<br>[Birkbeck College](/source/Birkbeck_College) (PhD)
}}

'''Monique Sheelagh Jacquard Simmonds''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} (born February 1950)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monique Sheelagh Jacquard SIMMONDS personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/848oPNE8pKRTDJS1chhxKBapeZc/appointments |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |language=en}}</ref> is a British [chemist](/source/chemist) and [botanist](/source/Botany) who is deputy keeper of the [Jodrell Laboratory](/source/Jodrell_Laboratory) at the [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew](/source/Royal_Botanic_Gardens%2C_Kew). She has been involved in identifying plant-derived compounds in several criminal investigations. She is a Fellow of the [Royal Entomological Society](/source/Royal_Entomological_Society) and the [Royal Society of Biology](/source/Royal_Society_of_Biology).

== Life ==
Simmonds earned her BSc at the [University of Leeds](/source/University_of_Leeds) and her PhD in [parasitology](/source/parasitology) at [Birkbeck College](/source/Birkbeck%2C_University_of_London), University of London.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Simmonds, Monique {{!}} Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=https://www.kew.org/science-conservation/research-data/science-directory/people/simmonds-monique |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160903193842/http://www.kew.org:80/science-conservation/research-data/science-directory/people/simmonds-monique |archive-date=2016-09-03 |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.kew.org |language=en}}</ref> Her doctoral thesis was on the subject of the [parasitoids](/source/Parasitoid) of [synanthropic](/source/Synanthrope) flies.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Parasitoids of synanthropic flies|last=Simmonds|first=M. S. J.|publisher=Birkbeck College, University of London|type=PhD|date=1984}}</ref> 

Simmonds is deputy keeper of the [Jodrell Laboratory](/source/Jodrell_Laboratory) at the [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew](/source/Royal_Botanic_Gardens%2C_Kew), and Director of the Commercial Innovation Unit. She is also Deputy Director of Science - Partnerships.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: CEB staff |url=https://www.kew.org/science/ecbot/ecbot-staff.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822044555/http://www.kew.org:80/science/ecbot/ecbot-staff.html |archive-date=2016-08-22 |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.kew.org |language=en-GB}}</ref> She has worked at Kew Gardens since 1985.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2009-08-16 |title=Revealed: The brains behind Kew Gardens' beauty |url=https://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/news/4547088.revealed-the-brains-behind-kew-gardens-beauty/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Richmond and Twickenham Times |language=en}}</ref> Simmonds research interests are in the economic uses of plants and fungi, and the uses of chemicals derived from plants and fungi.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=28 January 2020 |title=Herbal Essences is Improving the Health of Hair With More Plant Power in 2020 |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200128005155/en/Herbal-Essences-is-Improving-the-Health-of-Hair-With-More-Plant-Power-in-2020 |access-date=5 April 2025 |website=BusinessWire}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lawrence |first=Janna |date=2014-10-15 |title=Mind-expanding exploration at London's Kew Gardens |url=https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/opinion/mind-expanding-exploration-at-londons-kew-gardens |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=The Pharmaceutical Journal |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Houlton |first=Sarah |date=2014-09-23 |title=Chemistry in bloom |url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/chemistry-in-bloom-/7760.article |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Chemistry World |language=en}}</ref> She is also involved in the identification of compounds derived from plants.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Professor Monique Simmonds OBE {{!}} Kew |url=https://www.kew.org/science/our-science/people/monique-simmonds |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.kew.org |language=en}}</ref> Simmonds fundraised to create a collection of 7,000 specimens from Chinese medicine at Kew,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Revitalizing the science of traditional medicinal plants |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-021-00478-9 |access-date=5 April 2025 |website=nature portfolio}}</ref> and has been directing research aimed at using them to improve the safety of [Traditional Chinese Medicine](/source/Traditional_Chinese_medicine).<ref>{{Cite web |last=CBBC |date=2020-08-07 |title=Britain's Kew Gardens is working to make TCM safer |url=https://focus.cbbc.org/kew-gardens-tcm/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Focus - China Britain Business Council |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Simmonds has provided chemical botanical investigations in several criminal investigations.<ref name=":1" /> She was responsible for identifying the plant ''[Gelsemium elegans](/source/Gelsemium_elegans)'' as a possible cause of the poisoning of [Alexander Perepilichny](/source/Alexander_Perepilichny) in 2015.<ref name="harding-walker-guardian">{{cite news |last1=Harding |first1=Luke |last2=Walker |first2=Shaun |date=19 May 2015 |title='Poisoned' Russian whistleblower was fatalistic over death threats |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/19/poisoned-russian-whistleblower-was-fatalistic-over-death-threats |access-date=4 May 2016 |work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) |location=London}}</ref> Simmonds identified [sesame](/source/sesame) in the food from [Pret a manger](/source/Pret_a_Manger) eaten by Natasha Ednan-Laperouse before her allergic reaction and death in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 September 2020 |title=Harm or Harmony: How safe are we from the foods we eat? |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/harm-or-harmony-how-safe-are-we-from-the-foods-we-eat/id1524216431?i=1000493018906 |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Apple Podcasts |language=en-US}}</ref>

Simmonds is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, the World Innovation Foundation, the Royal Society of Biology, and the Linnean Society.<ref>{{Cite web |last=UCL |date=2019-10-30 |title=Monique Simmonds |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/spicesandmedicine/conference-may-2013/speakers-and-abstracts/monique-simmonds |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Spices and Medicine |language=en}}</ref>

{{botanist|M.Simmonds|inline=yes}}

==Selected publications==
{{Scholia}}
*{{Cite Q|Q35025960}}
*{{Cite Q|Q28282057}}
*{{Cite Q|Q35208488}}
*{{Cite Q|Q40422649}}
*{{Cite Q|Q100146648}}
*{{Cite Q|Q52586631}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZw8SIMnEmw&t=241s Substantiating Botanical Safety & Sustainability]'' with Prof Monique Simmonds, Ph.D., 8 March 2022, via YouTube
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Monique}}
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century British botanists
Category:Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Category:Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London
Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:English women scientists
Category:1950 births
Category:20th-century English botanists
Category:20th-century British women biologists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Monique Simmonds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monique_Simmonds) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monique_Simmonds?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.