Boyds’ Founder and President, Professor Alan Boyd, has been awarded the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences. This prestigious award recognises Professor Boyd’s contributions to medical science and medicines and has been awarded to him based on his significant involvement in supporting the development of medicines across several therapeutic areas and most notably in the field of cell and gene advanced therapeutics.
The Academy of Medical Sciences is the UK’s independent body representing the diversity of medical science, aiming to advance biomedical and health research and its translation into benefits for society. This week, the Academy has announced the election of 50 of the UK’s most prominent biomedical and health scientists to their Fellowship.
Professor Boyd’s career spans over 30 years working as a pharmaceutical physician in large pharma organisations including Glaxo, ICI and Zeneca, before setting up Ark Therapeutics Ltd where he led the development of their gene-based medicines portfolio. He founded Boyds in 2005 with a clear focus to support early-stage life-science based companies and universities particularly in the translation and development of their research ideas into therapeutics. His contribution to medicines development has resulted so far in around fifteen products being licensed as prescription medicines and this includes seven cell and gene therapies. Professor Alan Boyd is also a Fellow at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Royal Colleges of Physicians, where he has undertaken many officer roles over several years. This culminated in him becoming the President of the organisation from 2015 to 2018. Through his work at the Faculty, he has made significant contributions to the establishment of the specialty training programme in pharmaceutical medicine, which has now resulted in around 400 post-graduate trainees receiving a CCT in the specialty.
Professor Alan Boyd comments: “I am extremely proud and honoured to have been nominated and awarded this Fellowship and to join a small group of other Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences with expertise in pharmaceutical medicine. I feel this recognises the growing importance of this specialty and the vital role it has in the innovation and development of new therapeutic agents, as exemplified during the recent pandemic over the past year. I am passionate about the work that I and my colleagues undertake in supporting the development of medicines on a world-wide basis. I am very much looking forward to associating with the many eminent colleagues at the Academy of Medical Sciences and contributing to the future advancement of biomedical and health research and its translation into benefits for both patients and society.”
The Academy’s 2021 new Fellows include Professor Sarah Gilbert, who led the team at Oxford to develop the new Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, Professor Martin Landray and Professor Peter Horby, both of whom have been at the forefront of the search for COVID-19 treatments, and independent adviser to the government, Professor Jonathan Nguyen-Van-Tam.
Read the full announcement from the Academy here.
