The award
The Buchanan Medal is awarded for distinguished contributions to the biomedical sciences. The award was created from a fund to the memory of the physician George Buchanan FRS (PDF), former Chief Medical Officer of the UK, and was first awarded in 1897. The medal is of silver gilt, is awarded annually and is accompanied by a gift of £2,000.
Past winners
Professor Gillian Griffiths FMedSci FRS was awarded the 2019 Buchanan Medal for establishing the fundamental cell biological mechanisms that drive cytotoxic T-cell killing, laying the foundations for informed application of cancer immunotherapy
Sir Adrian Peter Bird CBE FRS was awarded the 2018 Buchanan Medal for his discovery that 5-methycytosine-binding MeCP2 protein silences transcription of methylated DNA and can reverse established Rett Syndrome in MeCP2 deficiency, the first demonstration that such neurodevelopmental diseases are curable.
Sir Peter Ratcliffe FMedSci FRS was awarded the 2017 Buchanan Medal for his ground-breaking research on oxygen sensing and signalling pathways mediating cellular responses to hypoxia.
See full list of all past winners of the Buchanan Medal.