Buchanan medallist 2021
Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith FMedSci FRS (credit Douglas Vernimmen)
The Buchanan Medal 2021 is awarded to Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith FMedSci FRS for her pioneering work in epigenetics, her interdisciplinary work on genomic imprinting, the interplay between the genome and epigenome, and how genetic and environmental influences affect development and human diseases.
Professor Ferguson-Smith's achievement will be celebrated at Anniversary Day on 30 November 2021. The prize is given with a medal and gift of £2,000.
Return to this year's Royal Society medal, award and prize winners.
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.
Eligibility
The Buchanan medal is open to UK/Commonwealth/Irish Republic citizens or those who have been residents for three or more years. There are no restrictions on career stage and nominations will remain valid and shall be considered by the award selection committee throughout three nomination cycles.
Nominations
The call for nominations is now closed. The next round of nominations opens in November 2021.
Past winners
Sir Doug Turnbull FMedSci FRS was awarded the 2020 Buchanan Medal for outstanding contributions to biomedicine particularly in relation to mitochondrial disease, including the development of a method to prevent their transmission.
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.
See full list of all past winners of the Buchanan Medal.