Professor Stephen Ward, Deputy Director of LSTM, is to be awarded the 2013 Sornchai Looressuwan Medal, which is given annually to researchers whose efforts have been devoted to malaria.
The award recognises Professor Ward’s achievement in anti-malarial drug discovery, and in the application of pharmacokinetic principles to the rational design and investigation of the anti-parasite dosage regimens, which the awarding committee describe as a cornerstone of many of the current global research programmes.
Professor Ward will receive the medal in December at the Joint International Tropical Medical Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, during which he will be delivering a key note speech. He said: “I am honoured to receive the award and have my work recognised in this way, especially given the calibre of the other nominees. The Sornchai Lorressuwan Medal underlines the importance of the work being carried out on an international level in the fight against malaria.”
Professor Ward shares this year’s prestigious honours with Dr Louis Miller, of the National Institute of Health, USA, who is recognised for the his work in identifying the basic genetic mechanisms employed by malaria parasites to infect and survive in their hosts.
The medal is given in memory of prolific researcher Dr Sornchai Looressuwan, former Dean of the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol Univerity in Thailand, who published 490 scientific articles and studies, many concerning malaria, before his death in 2007. Former Dean of LSTM, Professor Brian Maegraith (Dean 1946-1975), was instrumental in helping found the Faculty of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University in 1960 along with the school’s first Dean, Professor Chamlong Harinasuta, a former student of LSTM.