SCI Director honoured with Mike Fisher Memorial Award for 2014

Professor Alan Fenwick OBE, Director of the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, has been honoured with the Mike Fisher Memorial Award for 2014.

Professor Alan Fenwick OBE, Director of the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, has been honoured with the Mike Fisher Memorial Award for 2014.

The award is given annually by the Windward Islands Research & Education Foundation (WINDREF), which is based at St. George’s University in Grenada (West Indies). The award honours outstanding individual contributions to global science and scientific achievement that has had an impact on the lives of people. 

Professor Fenwick was presented with the Mike Fischer Memorial Award for 2014 by Charles Modica (President, St George's University) and Baroness Howells at the House of Lords on Thursday 22 May.

Mike Fisher, PhD (1926-2005) discovered Ivermectin in the 1970s, revolutionizing the treatment of a myriad of infections, particularly parasitic, diseases. As a result, over 35 million people no longer live under the previously inevitable threat of sight loss from onchocerciasis, or gross disfigurement from lymphatic filariasis. Animal health has also benefited, ridding livestock of parasitic infections that cause debilitating disease, loss of productivity and frequently death.

Mike Fisher passed away in 2005 and since 2006 WINDREF have made this annual award to individuals who have contributed significantly to the area of human health. Previous awardees include Lord May of Oxford, Dr. Adetokunbo “Ade” Lucas and Dr. Donald Hopkins.