Alumni and staff honoured by academies

Outstanding contributions of Imperial alumni to science and medical sciences recognised with major honours

Four alumni and one Imperial College staff member were amongst 44 new Fellows elected to the Royal Society on 16 May.

Professor Alan Ashworth (Chemistry 1981), is Director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, and was elected for his major contributions to the understanding of mammalian genetics.

Professor Derek Fray (Materials 1961, PhD 1964) is Emeritus Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, and his Fellowship recognises his work in materials chemistry, and in particular the chemistry of solid electrolytes.

Professor Stephen Jackson (PhD Biochemistry 1985) is Head of Cancer Research UK Laboratories, also at the University of Cambridge, and was elected for his contribution to elucidating the NHEJ pathway of DNA double-strand break repair.

Finally, Professor John Marshall (Physics 1976, PhD 1979) is Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at MIT, and his new Fellowship recognises many years of work in the field of ocean circulation had been acknowledged in this way.

In addition, Imperial’s Professor Christofer Toumazou, Executive Director and Chief Scientist of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the Winston Wong Chair in Biomedical Circuits at Imperial College London, was elected to the UK’s national academy of science for his work in analogue signal processing, used in mobile phone technology, which led to advances in telecommunications and the revolutionary design of new prosthetic implants.

His Fellowship brings the number of Royal Society Fellows at Imperial to 65.

The Society elects 44 new Fellows each year, following an extremely rigorous process based upon the established practice of peer review. Fellows are called upon to fulfil a wide range of tasks for, and on behalf of, the Royal Society. Many Fellows invest significant time and effort, voluntarily, to carry out these tasks in the cause of science and the Royal Society.

A month previously, 40 new Fellows were elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship, including three Imperial alumni and three members of staff.

The alumni are Professor Michael Frenneaux (Westminster Medical School 1980), BHF Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Birmingham, Professor John Hardy (PhD Biochemistry 1979), Professor of Neuroscience at University College London, and Professor Victor Tybulewicz (Chemistry 1981), Head of Division of Immune Cell Biology at the National Institute for Medical Research

Additionally, Imperial Professors Anne Dell, Jon Friedland and Terry Cook were elected to the Fellowship, bringing the total number of Imperial Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences to 72.

Fellows are elected to the Academy for their exceptional contribution to the advancement of medical science either in the form of original discovery or of sustained contributions to scholarship, or for the application of existing scientific knowledge or understanding in an innovative way, in order to bring about advances in human health and welfare.