Putting Pharmacology on the map

January: The British Pharmacological Society has presented an award to the School's Department of Pharmacology.

The British Pharmacological Society hosted it's annual 'Putting UK Pharmacology on the Map' vote. The vote selects sites of special scientific interest linked to achievements in pharmacology based on a ballot of MPs, peers and senior members of the scientific community.

The winners were based on the Society's secrets of success; Team identity, Leadership, Resources and Championing Talent.

The University of Edinburgh has a long tradition of discovery and innovation in the field pharmacology. I am therefore delighted that its contribution to pharmacology has been recognised with this award. Not least because it could be argued that, through his pioneering studies on the chemistry of drug action, Alfred J Clark was both Chair of Pharmacology at Edinburgh and the father of the modern subject. That aside the ground breaking work of Edinburgh researchers has been of high impact across the decades, a fact highlighted by the outstanding contributions of Sir John Gaddum and Marthe Vogt on neurotransmitters that continues to aid our understanding and treatment of mental illness, and the work by Eric Horton on prostaglandins that opened the door to advances in the treatment of pain and inflammation that continues to this day.