The Harrison Medal

For outstanding contributions in advancing pharmaceutical science

The Harrison Medal is awarded every two years by our Chief Scientist. Awardees are usually established pharmacy professionals who are research active and promotes innovation within their field.

History of the Hanbury Medal

The Harrison Medal was set up in memory of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Frank Harrison (1869 –1918), a distinguished pharmaceutical chemist.

Following his death in 1918 at age 49, just one week before Armistice Day, a fund for a silver medal award was established in his memory.

Ernest Saville Peck, an influential member of the Pharmaceutical Society, gave the first Harrison Medal Lecture in 1927. However, Sir Henry Hallett Dale was the most high-profile winner, awarded the medal in 1932, the same year he was knighted. His Harrison Lecture paid tribute to Edward Harrison, and was focussed on therapeutic substances of the future. Dale received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1936 for his work on the chemical transmission of nerve impulses.

The most recent medallist was Professor Abdul Basit, leader of the Basit Research Group at the UCL School of Pharmacy. He is an internationally leading authority on oral drug delivery, digital health, and innovative pharmaceutical technologies (e.g., three-dimensional printing). He serves as a consultant to many pharmaceutical companies, and is on the advisory boards of scientific journals, healthcare organisations and charitable bodies. Professor Basit delivered his 2022 Harrison lecture “A spoonful of pharmaceutics helps the medicine go down” at the “Celebration of Science” event in November 2022.

The next Harrison Medal will be awarded in 2024, but nominations open on Monday, 15 May 2023.

ELIGIBILITY AND NOMINATIONS