The Hanbury Medal

Awarded for "High excellence in the prosecution or promotion of original research in the Natural History and Chemistry of Drugs"

History of the Hanbury Medal

Following the death of British botanist and pharmacologist Daniel Hanbury in 1875, Daniel’s friends and colleagues resolved to honour a life dedicated to science by awarding a medal in his memory for 'high excellence in the prosecution or promotion of original research in the Natural History and Chemistry of Drugs.'

A fund was established in his memory to support the Hanbury Medal, a gold medal awarded every five years by the RPS to recognise an individual who has had a distinguished career in the pharmaceutical sciences. The award winner is invited to delivers the Hanbury Memorial Lecture on a subject relating to their work in the pharmaceutical sciences and is presented with the Hanbury memorial medal.

The first recipient of the Hanbury Medal was Daniel’s former associate, Friedrich Fluckiger, who received the medal in 1881 for his work on pharmacognosy and pharmacology. Frederick Sanger, who was awarded his first Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958 for his work on the structure of the insulin molecule, is one of the most influential recipients of the medal. It was for this work on the structure of insulin, as well as his work on polypeptides, that he was awarded the Hanbury Medal in 1976.

The most recent medallist was Professor Sandy Florence, a well-known figure in pharmacy for his research into drug delivery and government committee work. He is a notable pioneer in the pharmaceutical sciences who led research on topics such as surfactant systems, colloids, dendrimer and nanoparticle uptake, drug targeting, and nanotechnology.

Nominations for the 2025 Hanbury Medal open in Spring 2024.

ELIGIBILITY AND NOMINATIONS