Carina Tyrrell


Dr. Carina Tyrrell is a British-Swiss public health physician, model, charity ambassador and beauty competition titleholder who is a former Miss England and Miss United Kingdom. Tyrrell represented England at Miss World 2014 and she is best known for making international news for being the first woman, from one of the world's top universities, to participate in the beauty competition. She is the most successful Miss England contestant ever, having won four of the ten qualifying rounds in the final of the competition, including the swimwear round. Tyrrell studied medicine at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge and received first-class honours, prizes and distinctions.
Having declared herself a feminist, Tyrrell faced criticism from Germaine Greer, herself a Cambridge University graduate. Tyrrell is a women's rights advocate, believing that women should be able to make their own choices and that women and men should collaborate to support one another. Tyrrell supports various charities and her Beauty with a Purpose charity project for Miss World was in aid of the homeless. She slept rough on the streets to raise awareness of homelessness and is an ambassador, for homeless charities, in both Oxford and Cambridge.

Early life and education

Tyrrell was born on 24 October 1989 in Geneva, Switzerland, and attended the International School of Geneva where she learned to speak French fluently. She studied medicine at Cambridge University Medical School where she graduated with an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences in 2012, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree in 2016, and later in 2019, obtained a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Cambridge.

Career and research

Tyrrell was a former president of Cambridge University's Global Health Committee, where she championed a project to help the homeless community in Cambridge and the surrounding area. She spent time working at the World Health Organization developing leadership and international-relations skills. After graduation, she spent two years working as a physician at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust before returning to Cambridge to work at the Institute for Public Health, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Her research interests include global health infections and outbreak response, where she published a paper on identifying and managing emerging respiratory viruses during time spent with the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network.