Awards

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Hall of Fame 2024 Call for Nominations

BMCS Hall of Fame – guidance notes

Overview

The Hall of Fame and Medal is to recognize prominent chemists for outstanding, sustained, contributions to any area of interest to the RSC Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector (BMCS), e.g. medicinal chemistry, agriscience, biooorganic chemistry and chemical biology. This is an Individual award to recognize  prominence  and  significant, sustained, scientific impact  in the field of medicinal chemistry, agriscience or chemical biology, including teaching excellence, outstanding contributions to the BMCS, or any combination thereof.

Call for Nominations

Call for nominations for the Hall of Fame 2024 are now closed.

Previous Hall of Fame Inductees

BMCS Hall of Fame and Medal 2022
The BMCS is delighted to announce that Dr Karin Briner will be the 2022 inductee to its Hall of Fame, and the recipient of the associated medal.

Karin is widely recognized as a leader of industrial medicinal chemists. She led Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery Teams at Lilly and then Global Discovery Chemistry at Novartis where she had responsibility for over 600 scientists focusing on delivering clinical candidates in unprecedented target space with diverse modalities, such as low molecular weight molecules, radioligand therapies, peptides, antibody-drug conjugates, RNA-based compounds, and contributions to the discovery of umibecestat and branaplam. Very recently, she has joined Genentech as head of Drug Discovery.

Those who have worked with Karin have experienced an incredibly committed individual whose sharp analytical skills are coupled with a genuine concern for people. In all her roles Karin has been an outstanding mentor who has furthered the career of many chemists and other scientists.

BMCS Hall of Fame and Medal 2021
The BMCS is delighted to announce that Professor Dame Carol Robinson, DBE FRS FMedSci FRSC, Dr Lee’s Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery at the University of Oxford, will be the 2021 inductee to its Hall of Fame and the recipient of the associated medal.

Carol Robinson is globally recognised as a leader in the development of mass spectrometry techniques to problems in chemical biology. Her ground-breaking research on the three-dimensional structure of proteins has demonstrated the power of these techniques in studying large molecular compounds. Much of her research has involved pushing the limits of electrospray mass spectrometry, demonstrating that important complexes can be generated and studied in the gas phase. Her cutting-edge work finds many applications from antibiotic resistance to drug design in both academia and industry. In addition to her academic role, she founded a successful biotechnology company which focuses on mass spectrometry to discover novel medicines.

BMCS Hall of Fame and Medal 2020
The BMCS is delighted to announce that David Rees PhD, FRSC, FMedSci, Chief Scientific Officer at Astex Pharmaceuticals, will be the 2020 inductee to its Hall of Fame, and the recipient of the associated medal.

David is recognised internationally for his innovative use of chemistry in drug discovery. His research has forged bridges between academia and industry and he has held prominent positions in learned societies such as the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has led collaborations resulting in the discovery of three launched drugs, the anaesthetic agent Sugammadex which has been used in over 30 million patients in 60 countries, and the anti-cancer agents Ribociclib and Erdafitinib, both predicted to achieve blockbuster status. Much of Astex’s industry-leading productivity has been dependant on David’s chemical expertise. David is well known for his calm authority, scientific rigor and enthusiasm, and has over 140 publications and patents.

The formal medal presentation was made at the 21st RSC / SCI Medicinal Chemistry symposium on 14th September 2021.

BMCS Hall of Fame and Medal 2019
The RSC-BMCS is delighted to announce that Sir Simon Campbell CBE FRS FMedSci will be the 2019 inductee to its Hall of Fame, and the recipient of the associated medal.

Sir Simon has made notable and long standing contributions to the pharmaceutical industry and to the wider chemistry community in the UK with many significant scientific achievements. At Pfizer, he was a key member of the research teams that discovered Cardura, Norvasc (Istin) and Viagra which all became “best in class” with respect to therapeutic profile and commercial success. He has co-authored over 120 publications and patents and has received various national and international awards including the RSC BMCS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Sir Simon served as President of the RSC 2004-06, and was appointed CBE for Services to Science in 2006 followed by a Knighthood for Services to Chemistry in 2015. His current scientific activities are largely focused on drug discovery for neglected diseases including malaria and TB.

BMCS Hall of Fame and Medal 2018
The inaugural inductee to the BMCS Hall of Fame was Professor C Robin Ganellin FRS, Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at University College London. Professor Ganellin has inspired chemists and those in the pharmaceutical industry for decades. He devised the syllabus and taught for many years at the now well established RSC Medicinal Chemistry Summer School. He is a drug hunter, and has had exceptional industrial and academic careers. His pioneering work, including the discoveries of the first histamine H2 and H3 receptor antagonists as medicines, has changed the lives of millions of patients.