Professor Roger Pertwee MA DPhil DSc

Roger Pertwee’s research focuses on the pharmacology and therapeutic potential of synthetic, endogenous and cannabis-derived cannabinoids. This cannabinoid research began in 1968 at Oxford University and continued when he moved to Aberdeen University in 1974. His achievements include the joint discovery of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabivarin in cannabis, and of endogenous cannabinoids (endocannabinoids), the discovery of a CB1 receptor allosteric site, and significant contributions to the pharmacological characterization of phytocannabinoids (eg delta-9-tetrahydrocannabivarin, cannabidiol, cannabidiolic acid and cannabigerol), and of notable synthetic cannabinoids (e.g. methanandamide, ACEA, ACPA, AM251, AM281, AM630, O-1057 and Org27569). He received the 2002 Mechoulam Award “for his outstanding contributions to cannabinoid research”, the BPS 2011 Wellcome Gold Medal, and the 2013 International Association for Cannabinoid Medicine (IACM) Special Award “for his major contributions to the re-introduction of cannabis as a medicine”. He has served as IACM chairman, and twice as President of the International Cannabinoid Research Society.