The Physiological Society

The Physiological Society

Formation	1876
Purpose	Support the advancement of physiology
Headquarters	London, England
Membership	2500 Members
President	David Attwell
Chief Executive	Dariel Burdass
President-Elect	Annette Dolphin
Website	www.physoc.org

The Physiological Society, founded in 1876, is a learned society for physiologists in the United Kingdom .

The Physiological Society was founded in 1876 as a dining society "for mutual benefit and protection" by a group of 19 physiologists, led by John Burdon Sanderson and Michael Foster, as a result of the 1875 Royal Commission on Vivisection and the subsequent 1876 Cruelty to Animals Act.^[1] Other founding members included: William Sharpey, Thomas Huxley, George Henry Lewes, Francis Galton, John Marshall, George Murray Humphry, Frederick William Pavy, Lauder Brunton, David Ferrier, Philip Pye-Smith, Walter H. Gaskell, John Gray McKendrick, Emanuel Edward Klein, Edward Schafer, Francis Darwin, George Romanes, and Gerald Yeo. The aim was to promote the advancement of physiology. Charles Darwin and William Sharpey were elected as the society's first two Honorary Members. The society first met at Sanderson's London home. The first rules of the society offered membership to no more than 40, all of whom should be male "working" physiologists.^[2] Women were first admitted as members in 1915 and the centenary of this event was celebrated in 2015.^[3]

Michael Foster was also founder of The Journal of Physiology in 1878, and was appointed to the first Chair of Physiology at the University of Cambridge in 1883.

The archives are held at the Wellcome Library.^[4]

The Society consists of over 2500 members, including 14 Nobel Laureates drawn from over 50 countries. The majority of members are engaged in research, in universities or industry, into how the body works in health and disease and in teaching physiology in schools and universities. The Society also facilitates communication between scientists and with other interested groups.

The Physiological Society publishes the academic journals The Journal of Physiology and Experimental Physiology, and with the American Physiological Society publishes the online only, open access journal Physiological Reports.^[5] It also publishes the membership magazine Physiology News.

The society is based at Hodgkin Huxley House in Farringdon, London, named for Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley.^[6]

The post of president was established in 2001, and the society's current president is David Attwell. Past holders include:^[7]

• 2001 (2001) – 2003 (2003): Colin Blakemore
• 2003 (2003) – 2006 (2006): Richard A. North
• 2006 (2006) – 2008 (2008): Ole Holger Petersen
• 2008 (2008) – 2010 (2010): Clive H. Orchard ({{{2}}})
• 2010 (2010) – 2012 (2012): Kenneth M. Spyer ({{{2}}})
• 2012 (2012) – 2014 (2014): Jonathan Ashmore
• 2014 (2014) – 2016 (2016): Richard Vaughan-Jones ({{{2}}})
• 2016 (2016) – 2018 (2018): David A. Eisner
• 2018 (2018) – 2020 (2020): Bridget Lumb ({{{2}}})
• 2020 (2020) – 2022 (2022): David Paterson^[8]
• 2022 – 2024: David Attwell

The Society awards a number of prizes for meritorious achievement.^[9]

The society considers its Annual Review Prize Lecture, first awarded in 1968, to be its premier award.^[9]

• 2001 (2001): Nicholas B. Standen ({{{2}}})
• 2002 (2002): David I. Cook ({{{2}}})
• 2003 (2003): Jonathan F. Ashmore
• 2004 (2004): David J. Beech ({{{2}}})
• 2005 (2005): Simon C. Gandevia ({{{2}}})
• 2006 (2006): Mark J. Dunne ({{{2}}})
• 2007 (2007): David Allen (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2010 (2010): David Attwell
• 2011 (2011): Giovanni E. Mann ({{{2}}})
• 2013 (2013): Richard Vaughan-Jones ({{{2}}})
• 2014 (2014): Kenneth M. Spyer ({{{2}}})

Named for William Bayliss and Ernest Starling. Originally awarded every three years, since 2015 it is awarded annually alternating between established and early-career physiologists.^[10]

• 1963 (1963): Charles Lovatt Evans
• 1966 (1966): Ivan De Burgh Daly
• 1969 (1969): Archibald Hill
• 1973 (1973): Roderic Alfred Gregory
• 1976 (1976): Henry Barcroft
• 1979 (1979): David Whitteridge
• 1982 (1982): J R Pappenheimer
• 1985 (1985): Bernard Katz
• 1988 (1988): John Zachary Young
• 1991 (1991): James Black
• 1994 (1994): John Vane
• 1997 (1997): David A. Brown ({{{2}}})
• 2000 (2000): Salvador Moncada
• 2004 (2004): Gerhard Giebisch
• 2006 (2006): Roderick Flower
• 2009 (2009): Gero Miesenböck
• 2011 (2011): Jerome A. Dempsey ({{{2}}})
• 2013 (2013): Graham J. Dockray
• 2014 (2014): Steven Bloom ({{{2}}})
• 2015 (2015): Kim Barrett – Endogenous and exogenous control of gastrointestinal epithelial function: building on the legacy of Bayliss and Starling^[11]
• 2016 (2016): Lisa Heather ({{{2}}}) - Cardiac metabolism in disease: All fuels are equal, but some fuels are more equal than others.
• 2017 (2017): Helen E. Raybould ({{{2}}})
• 2018 (2018): Patrick Lewis (physiologist) ({{{2}}}) – Leucine rich repeat kinase 2: From pathology to physiology and back again
• 2020 (2020): Maria Fitzgerald

Named in memory of Kathy Biller. Given to a worker in the field of renal or epithelial physiology, under 35 years old. It has now been discontinued.^[10]

• 2002 (2002): Louise Robson ({{{2}}})
• 2006 (2006): Matthew Bailey (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2004 (2004): Donald T. Ward ({{{2}}})
• 2008 (2008): Gavin Stewart (physiologist) ({{{2}}})

Named for George Lindor Brown. These lectures are delivered at various institutions and intended to stimulate an interest in physiology.^[10]

• 1975 (1975): G S Brindley ({{{2}}}) and R J Linden ({{{2}}})
• 1976 (1976): P F Baker ({{{2}}}) and Patrick A. Merton ({{{2}}})
• 1977 (1977): Eric Neil ({{{2}}})
• 1983 (1983): John Nicholls
• 1984 (1984): John S. Gillespie ({{{2}}})
• 1985 (1985): Michael de Burgh Daly ({{{2}}})
• 1986 (1986): Graham J. Dockray
• 1987 (1987): Semir Zeki
• 1988 (1988): Anthony Angel ({{{2}}})
• 1989 (1989): Colin Blakemore
• 1990 (1990): Nicholas B. Standen ({{{2}}})
• 1991 (1991): Roger N. Lemon ({{{2}}})
• 1992 (1992): Jonathan F. Ashmore
• 1993 (1993): Annette Dolphin
• 1994 (1994): Richard Vaughan-Jones ({{{2}}})
• 1995 (1995): Stuart Cull-Candy
• 1996 (1996): Frances M. Ashcroft
• 1997 (1997): Ian D. Forsythe ({{{2}}})
• 1998 (1998): Peter Lipp ({{{2}}})
• 1999 (1999): David J. Paterson
• 2000 (2000): Stephen B. McMahon ({{{2}}})
• 2001 (2001): Chris Peers (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2002 (2002): Mark J. Dunne ({{{2}}})
• 2004 (2004): Michael J. Rennie ({{{2}}})
• 2005 (2005): Godfrey L. Smith ({{{2}}})
• 2006 (2006): C. A. Richard Boyd ({{{2}}})
• 2007 (2007): Nina Balthasa ({{{2}}})
• 2009 (2009): J Graham McGeown ({{{2}}})
• 2010 (2010): Lucilla Poston
• 2011 (2011): James Deuchars ({{{2}}})
• 2012 (2012): Anant Parekh
• 2013 (2013): David A. Eisner
• 2014 (2014): Mike Tipton
• 2015 (2015): Molly Stevens
• 2016 (2016): Rachel Tribe
• 2017 (2017): Andrew Parker (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2018 (2018): Pamela Shaw

Named in memory of Geoffrey Harris. Now discontinued.^[10]

• 1987 (1987): George Fink (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 1990 (1990): Ernest M. Wright
• 1993 (1993): Graham J. Dockray
• 1996 (1996): Iain C. A. F. Robinson ({{{2}}})

Named after Alan Hodgkin, Andrew Huxley and Bernard Katz, and normally awarded to a physiologist from outside the UK or Ireland.^[10]

• 2000 (2000): Roderick MacKinnon
• 2002 (2002): Bert Sakmann
• 2004 (2004): Denis Noble
• 2006 (2006): Thomas J. Jentsch ({{{2}}})
• 2008 (2008): Eric Kandel
• 2010 (2010): Roger Nicoll
• 2012 (2012): Cori Bargmann
• 2013 (2013): Erin M. Schuman
• 2015 (2015): Karin Sipido ({{{2}}}) – Calcium microdomains in cardiac myocytes
• 2017 (2017): Jack L. Feldman
• 2019 (2019): Stephen Traynelis ({{{2}}})

Named for Joan Mott.^[10]

Named for Michael de Burgh Daly ({{{2}}}).

• 2002 (2002): Janice M. Marshall ({{{2}}})
• 2005 (2005): James F X Jones ({{{2}}})
• 2007 (2007): Michael J. Joyner
• 2009 (2009): Colin A. Nurse ({{{2}}})
• 2011 (2011): Tobias Wang ({{{2}}})
• 2013 (2013): Peter Carmeliet
• 2016 (2016): Nanduri R. Prabhakar ({{{2}}})
• 2018 (2018): Katrin Schröder (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2020 (2020): F Gribble

Named for Otto Hutter, and awarded to teachers of undergraduate physiology.^[10]

• 2010 (2010): Mary Cotter ({{{2}}})
• 2011 (2011): Neil Morris (neuroscientist) ({{{2}}})
• 2012 (2012): Eugene Lloyd ({{{2}}})
• 2014 (2014): Dave Lewis (neuroscientist) ({{{2}}})
• 2015 (2015): Judy Harris (physiologist) ({{{2}}}) – Engaging students and valuing teachers
• 2016 (2016): Prem Kumar (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2017 (2017): Louise Robson ({{{2}}})
• 2018 (2018): Julia Choate
• 2019 (2019): James Clark

Initiated in 2017, the President’s Lecture is awarded by the President of The Society to a recipient of their choosing. This prestigious lecture is awarded at the discretion of The Society’s President.

• 2019 (2019): James Pawelczyk
• 2020 (2020): Jeffrey M. Friedman
• 2021 (2021): Jessica U. Meir
• 2022 (2022): Sir Patrick Vallance

Named for R Jean Banister. Awarded to an early-career physiologist and delivered at various institutions.^[10]

• 2016 (2016): Alicia D’Souza ({{{2}}}) – Getting excited about pacemaking in the athletic heart: interplay of transcription factors and microRNAs in pacemaker electrophysiology.
• 2017 (2017): Nathalie L Rochefort ({{{2}}}) – Decoding the visual cortex
• 2018 (2018): Bethan Phillips – Physiological adaptations to traditional and novel exercise interventions as a function of age
• 2019 (2019): Marie Holt (physiologist) ({{{2}}})

Named for William D.M. Paton, and given on a historical aspect of physiology.^[10]

• 1994 (1994): John Wendell Severinghaus ({{{2}}})
• 1995 (1995): Hans Ussing
• 1996 (1996): Patrick D. Wall
• 1997 (1997): Vernon B. Mountcastle
• 1998 (1998): Daniel P. Todes ({{{2}}})
• 2005 (2005): John H. Coote
• 2007 (2007): Denis Noble
• 2008 (2008): Kenneth M. Spyer ({{{2}}})
• 2009 (2009): Diethelm W. Richter ({{{2}}})
• 2010 (2010): Murray Esler
• 2011 (2011): John B. West
• 2012 (2012): Jere Mitchell ({{{2}}})
• 2013 (2013): Geoffrey Burnstock
• 2014 (2014): Peter Sleight
• 2015 (2015): Tilli Tansey
• 2016 (2016): Bert Sakmann
• 2017 (2017): Tom Kirkwood
• 2018 (2018): Josephine Arendt ({{{2}}})
• 2019 (2019): Kevin Fong
• 2020 (2020): Semir Zeki

Intended to raise awareness and understanding of physiology among the general public and schools.^[10]

• 2005 (2005): Julian F. R. Paton ({{{2}}})
• 2006 (2006): David Attwell
• 2008 (2008): Peter Weissberg
• 2009 (2009): Stephen O'Rahilly
• 2010 (2010): Nancy J. Rothwell
• 2011 (2011): Russell Foster – How your body clock makes you tick^[12]
• 2012 (2012): Gareth Leng ({{{2}}}) – The loving brain^[13]
• 2013 (2013): Russell Foster
• 2014 (2014): Robert Winston
• 2015 (2015): Sophie Scott – The science of laughter
• 2016 (2016): John F. Cryan (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2018 (2018): Daniel Martin – From mountains to the bedside: Lessons learnt from Everest
• 2019 (2019): Lora Heisler ({{{2}}})

Named after Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer. Awarded alternating between established and early-career physiologists.^[10]

• 1983 (1983): Torsten Wiesel
• 1986 (1986): David Attwell
• 1989 (1989): Bertil Hille
• 1992 (1992): Graham Collingridge
• 1995 (1995): Judah Folkman
• 1998 (1998): Julian F. R. Paton ({{{2}}})
• 2002 (2002): Erwin Neher
• 2005 (2005): Neville H. McClenaghan ({{{2}}})
• 2008 (2008): Walter Boron
• 2011 (2011): Walter Marcotti ({{{2}}})
• 2013 (2013): William A. Catterall
• 2016 (2016): Emma Hart (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2019 (2019): Roger Smith

Awarded to young physiologists (under 40). Now discontinued.^[10]

• 1986 (1986): Kevin A. C. Martin ({{{2}}})
• 1988 (1988): David A. Eisner
• 1990 (1990): Andrew J. King (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 1992 (1992): Hugh R. Matthews ({{{2}}})
• 1994 (1994): Wolf Reik
• 1996 (1996): Stewart O. Sage ({{{2}}})
• 1998 (1998): Leon Lagnado ({{{2}}})
• 2000 (2000): Daniela Riccardi ({{{2}}})
• 2002 (2002): Anant B. Parekh ({{{2}}})
• 2004 (2004): Alexander V. Gourine ({{{2}}})
• 2006 (2006): Helen Kennedy (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2008 (2008): Andrew W. Trafford ({{{2}}})

Awarded to early-career physiologists. Now discontinued.^[10]

• 2010 (2010): Josef Kittler (physiologist) ({{{2}}})
• 2011 (2011): Not awarded
• 2012 (2012): Holly Shiels ({{{2}}})
• 2013 (2013): Mala M. Shah ({{{2}}})

• Tansey, Tilli; Wray, Susan, ed. (1 July 2015). Women Physiologists: Centenary Celebrations and Beyond, The Physiological Society. ISBN 978-0-9933410-0-7

• The Physiological Society
• The Journal of Physiology
• Experimental Physiology

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