Professor Humphrey Rang MSc MB BS MA DPhil

After qualifying in medicine at University College London, and with a MSc in pharmacology, I moved to Oxford as Research Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology, later becoming University Lecturer and Medical Sciences Fellow at Lincoln College. After two years as Professor of Pharmacology in Southampton I spent five years at St George’s Hospital Medical School. In 1979 I returned to UCL as Professor of Pharmacology, where David Colquhoun and I ran a research group working on receptor mechanisms. I was elected to the Royal Society in 1980, and the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1984. With Maureen Dale, I wrote the first edition of the undergraduate textbook Pharmacology, which has passed through 8 editions, and sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In 1989 I became Director of the 70-strong research institute that Sandoz (later Novartis) set up on the UCL campus, focusing on pain mechanisms. After retirement in 2001, BPS responsibilities included Editor-in Chief of the British Journal of Pharmacology, President-Elect and President. I am proud to have received, over the years, the Gaddum, Vane and Wellcome Medals, and Honorary Fellowship of the Society.