Society of Apothecaries

The Galen Medal of the Society of Apothecaries

The Galen Medal in Therapeutics is presented by the Society of Apothecaries annually and is its most prestigious honour. It has been presented annually since 1925. The Medal is awarded for important services or contributions in the broad field of therapeutics. This can include treatments in clinical medicine or other clinically-related areas, therapeutic aspects of public health, and science leading to such treatments.

The 2025 Galen Medal was presented to Maj Gen Timothy Hodgetts CB CBE KHS OStJ DL in recognition of his transformational contributions to the Emergency Medical Care of battlefield casualties that have directly resulted in greatly improved outcomes in both military and civilian victims of severe trauma.

Galen Medal Previous Winners

Nominations for the 2025 Galen Medal are now closed.

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The William Farr Medal of the Society of Apothecaries

The Farr medal is one of the Society’s most prestigious honours and is presented alongside the premier award of the Society, the Galen Medal each year. It was inaugurated in 2006 and is awarded to medical practitioners who have made a particularly significant contribution to the management of the care of elderly people as part of their clinical or research work in the United Kingdom. The Society wishes to acknowledge innovations in the care of the elderly and particularly encourages the nomination of those in the middle of their career.

William Farr was a 19^th Century licentiate of the Society who later became chief statistician in the Office of the Registrar General. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and developed an international reputation for his system of disease classification.

The 2025 Farr Medal was presented to Prof Martin Vernon in recognition of his contributions to clinical leadership and service design for older people's healthcare.

Farr Medal Previous Winners

Nominations for the 2025 Farr Medal are now closed.

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The Apothecaries' Prize

Created in 2017 to mark the Society’s 400th anniversary year, the Apothecaries' Prize is aimed at doctors eligible for a consultant post in the UK within the next 3 years or, in pharmacy training, those practicing at Advanced Stage II of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Faculty or similar. Entry for the prize consists of submitting a published paper in medical therapeutics or public health medicine.

Applications for the 2025-6 Apothecaries' Prize is now open. Please click here to find out more and apply.

The 2025 Apothecaries’ Prize was presented to Dr Charlotte Brierley for her work on Chromosome 21 amplification orchestrates leukemic transformation in blast phase MPN through targetable overexpression of DYRK1A. Please click here to read Dr Brierley's paper in Nature Genetics.

Apothecaries' Prize Winners
Please click here for the previous Apothecaries' Prize winners and their publications.

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Rhino Elective Awards

These scholarships, worth £400 each, will enable medical students within their final 3 years of training to carry out medical electives. The Society welcomes creative ideas that address the principal purposes of an elective, including travelling to a new institution for an experience that benefits the student and the local population. Winners of the awards write a post-elective report to share with the Society and our community what they have learnt through their experiences.

You can read the 2023-4 reports below.
Anna Abrahamsson  Uganda Rhino post-elective report
Anna Tamlyn Rhino Elective Report Palliative Care in Rural Australia

The 2025 recipients are: Angela Kyle Rollan, Rose How, Eve Butler, Srishti Rentala Venkata & Nadia Daniel, Ahmed Ellbbany, Laurence Lewandowski-Barret, Pablo Alfonso Palanca, Scott Wylie, Thomas Collings, Chloe Stirling.

Applications for the Rhino Electives Awards have now closed.  Applications for Electives taking place between March 2026 and February 2027 will open in September 2025.

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Prize for Excellence in Military Medical Support to Crisis

Inaugurated in 2019, this prize is awarded in collaboration with the Surgeon-General for an action or contribution to a crisis subject to a specific MoD operational name or for planning, implementation or delivery of a specific activity within the crisis.

The 2025 Prize is awarded to Gp Cpt Mark Dermont in recognition of his role as a Defence Consultant Advisor in public health managing the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Afghan Resettlement Programme and training of Armed Forces Ukraine personnel.

Excellence in Military Medical Support to Crisis Pervious Winners

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If you have any queries about the Society’s Awards or Medals,
please contact the Deputy Clerk: deputyclerk@apothecaries.org