FPM announces President’s Medal Awardees 2020

Posted on: Friday 15 January 2021

FPM is delighted to announce the awarding of the FPM President’s Medal 2020 to three exceptional Pharmaceutical Physicians.

Dr Peter Dewland
Prof John Posner
Prof Peter Stonier

Dr Peter Dewland

Having qualified in Biochemistry and Medicine at St Thomas’s Hospital, London, Dr Peter Dewland embarked upon a series of posts aimed at training him for General Medical Practice. After a few years he decided to enter the field of Phase 1 research where he continued his training gaining a Masters in Medical Ethics and a Diploma in Clinical Pharmacology as well as the Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine. Initially, Peter concentrated on early phase research and helped grow the UK’s oldest Phase I unit to become a successful and thriving company. In 1997 he felt the need to experience later phase research so joined a large global CRO and gained experience in Phase II and III in several therapeutic areas. In that post he started and built up a successful, international Medical Affairs Department, taking over the company’s dealings with Japan, helping to develop a business from nothing to $40million a year.

Dr Dewland has been an established figure in early phase clinical research for many years; he was instrumental (along with the University of Wales) in establishing the first national training scheme for members of Research Ethics Committees to exist in the UK. This ran for nearly 20 years as an Annual Conference in Cambridge.

Dr Dewland was also a founder member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, acting as a member of the examination board and presently as an Educational Supervisor of students currently studying for a Diploma in Human Pharmacology. Dr Dewland has been responsible for the accreditation of 3 separate UK Phase I Units, and currently presides over the Early Phase Unit at MAC Clinical Research in Manchester, where he is the accredited First in Human Investigator. He is also Chair of the Phase 1 Advisory group to the Health Research Authority.

The President’s medal honours his huge commitment, dedication and sheer force of driving positive change within the Pharmaceutical Medicine arena.

Watch Alex Thompson's citation

Watch Peter's acceptance speech

Prof John Posner

Prof John Posner is an inspirational pharmaceutical physician who for many decades has been a leading and progressive light in educating healthcare professionals (HCPs) both within the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS. Aa an expert in clinical pharmacology and clinical development, he has been instrumental in opening up the fascinating world of exploratory development through education of HCPs and his consulting support to companies.

John is passionate about promoting clinical pharmacology and much of his career has been aimed at improving patient safety by increasing the understanding of clinical pharmacology. He has had a distinguished career in pharmaceutical medicine at Wellcome as Head of Clinical Pharmacology and subsequently at Glaxo Wellcome . In these roles he helped to establish the craft of determining exposure response relationship for new medicines, as well as development of a range of model systems enabling investigation of pharmacodynamic effects on respiration, CNS function and pain models in healthy volunteers.

He subsequently served as Medical Director and CEO of Bios, a UK-based clinical development and regulatory organisation. He established the Diploma of Human Pharmacology and the Diploma in Experimental Therapeutics at the Faculty with the aim of improving the training and enhancing the competence of doctors working in early phase research, equipping them for the challenges faced in this important area of our specialty.

In addition, he has previously served as Chair of the Board of Examiners for the Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine and as convenor, lecturer and visiting Professor at Kings College, where he continues to provide education and training in clinical pharmacology for both physicians and scientists in short courses supporting the Diploma in Human Pharmacology/Diploma in Experimental Therapeutics and the MSc programmes provided by the College. He has also served as an executive Editor of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, which is one of the leading journals in clinical pharmacology worldwide. His service and commitment to the aims and mission of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine and the establishment of our specialty has been immense.

Watch Juliet Roberts' citation

Watch John's acceptance speech

Prof Peter Stonier

Prof Stonier served on the Board of the FPM from its foundation, becoming Vice President and then President. It was during this time that he worked to develop the syllabus for pharmaceutical medicine and create the curriculum for the specialist training programme in pharmaceutical medicine, now PMST.

It is largely down to Peter’s hard work, expertise and enthusiasm that the PMST programme has been so successful over the years and continues to have an impact. His many and varied contributions to the FPM and its education and training mandate have equally contributed to the growth and increasing recognition of pharmaceutical medicine as a discipline and specialty.

He continues to serve both FPM and the profession as Director of Specialty Training, overseeing the development of a new PMST curriculum alongside other medical specialties for introduction in 2021. He serves on the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board as Vice-Chair of the Specialist Advisory Committee on Pharmaceutical Medicine.

Peter continues to be a Visiting Professor at King’s College London, the Co-Director of the IFFAP-King’s Online Course ‘Medical Affairs in Medicines Development’ and an external examiner at Cardiff University for the Masters in Clinical Research, having previously been an external examiner at Trinity College, Dublin for the Masters in Pharmaceutical Medicine.

In addition to his work on the specialty training programme, Peter has continued in his quest to drive the discipline forward. He with colleagues founded the first MSc programme in pharmaceutical medicine at Surrey University, which ran for over 20 years before being transferred to King’s College London.

He was also one of the driving forces behind the foundation of the PharmaTrain project, within the European Innovative Medicines Initiative, and continues to serve in an international capacity with the PharmaTrain Federation, the successor body to PharmaTrain, where he is a Board Member and the Executive Chair of the PharmaTrain Global Certification Board.

Peter has been active both nationally and internationally in raising the profile of pharmaceutical medicine, serving as Chairman of BrAPP and as President of IFAPP, the international Federation of Pharmaceutical Physician associations, where he is now a Board member and Chair of the Education and Competencies Working Group.

These collective efforts over a 45-year span to bring education and training to the heart of both the development of pharmaceutical medicine as a medical specialty, and the FPM as a standard-setting and professional body are acknowledged today. And with the encouragement and development opportunities Peter has brought to professionals in their career pathway in pharmaceutical medicine for the development and provision of new medicines for patients, his dedicated application to all these endeavours both at home and abroad are given due recognition today by the award of the President’s medal.