The Florey Medal is awarded biennially to an Australian biomedical researcher for significant lifetime achievements in biomedical science and / or human health advancement. In addition to the silver medal, the award carries a prize of $50,000 which has been due to the generous support of CSL Limited until 2022.
From 2023, AIPS will be taking the awards back in-house with an announcement on the future of the Florey Awards to be made in due course.
This award was established in 1998 by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science in honour of the Australian Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Sir Howard Florey, who developed penicillin.
The Florey Medal is part of the Tall Poppy Campaign which aims to recognise and promote scientific and intellectual excellence in Australia.
The Medal
The Florey Medal is hand sculpted by Michael Meszaros. Michael has lived as a sculptor in Melbourne for nearly four decades, producing a wide range of work ranging from major public pieces to his speciality of medals. He learned this from his father Andor, also a sculptor and medallist of international reputation.
This work is closely based on a portrait medal Andor made when Sir Howard Florey sat for him in 1963, commissioned by the Florey Institute at Melbourne University. Michael met Sir Howard at the time. Using Andor’s original as a guide, Michael has remodelled it in this size, adding a different inscription, designing a reverse and casting it in bright sterling silver.
2021
Professor Alan Cowman
AC FRS FAA
Prof Cowman is Deputy Director – Science Strategy at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research. His research has uncovered how the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum causes disease in humans and how it evolves to outwit antimalarial drugs. He has also created genetic tools to modify the parasite, which are now being used by malaria researchers worldwide.
Read more about previous Florey Medal Winners
2019 – Professors David Vaux and Andreas Strasser
Scientists revealing the links between cell death and cancer win $50,000 CSL Florey Medal for lifetime achievement. More than 30 billion cells die in every human every day. They do this through a process known as apoptosis, or programmed cell death – the body’s primary method of ensuring that old... ...Read More
2017 – Professor Elizabeth Rakoczy
Professor Elizabeth Rakoczy is modifying viruses to use their powers for good. She’s created a new gene therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) that is reversing vision loss in clinical trial patients. Her treatment means one injection instead of several per year. Modified viruses are gene therapy’s delivery vehicles,... ...Read More
2015 – Professor Perry Bartlett
When Perry started exploring the brain in 1977, the mature brain was regarded as static and unchangeable. He challenged this dogma and his work has led to a transformation in our understanding of the brain. In 1982 Perry predicted that there were stem cells in... ...Read More
2013 – Professor Ruth Bishop
Fifty million children in the world’s poorest countries will be vaccinated against the deadly rotavirus by 2015, thanks to the breakthrough work of a quiet Melbourne researcher. Ruth Bishop’s rotavirus discovery led to the development of the vaccine currently being rolled out by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and... ...Read More
2011 – Professor Graeme Clark
Bionic ear inventor Prof Graeme Clark today accepted the CSL Florey Medal and $50,000 prize for his pioneering work over decades that has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and looks like leading to even more innovation. Accepting his prize from Professor Rick McLean, Chair of... ...Read More
2009 – Professor John Hopwood
Professor Hopwood was honoured with the 2009 CSL Florey Medal for his life-long work into the diagnosis and treatment of genetically inherited disorders that affect children with devastating clinical effects leading to progressive destruction of the brain and other organs. Born in Melbourne, and educated at the Swinburne Institute and... ...Read More
2021 – Professor Alan Cowman AC FRS FAA
Professor Alan Cowman AC FRS FAA Deputy Director – Science Strategy The Walter and Eliza Hall institute of Medical Research Professor, Department of Medical Biology Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences The University of Melbourne Professor Cowman of WEHI in Melbourne has been awarded the CSL Florey Medal, presented... ...Read More
2006 – Professor Ian Frazer
Professor Ian Frazer was born in Scotland and gained degrees in Science and Medicine at Edinburgh University. Australia was fortunate that he chose to come to Melbourne in 1981, moving to Queensland in 1985, becoming an Australian citizen, and pioneering research on the link between papilloma viruses and cancer. He... ...Read More
2004 – Professor Peter Colman
Professor Peter Colman is the seminal contributor to the discovery of a new class of anti-influenza virus drugs, the neuraminidase inhibitors, which include what you may know as Relenza and Tamiflu. In the early 1980s Professor Colman determined the three-dimensional structure of neuraminidase. This protein is found on the outer... ...Read More
2002 – Professor Colin Masters
Professor Colin Masters' major research achievements include isolating and characterising elements of the primary pathway causing Alzheimer's disease. His findings are now the subject of intense world-wide research for diagnosis and drug discovery. Since his move to Victoria in 1988, Professor Masters and his collaborators have identified a novel metal-binding... ...Read More
1998 – Professor Barry Marshall & Professor Robin Warren
Barry James Marshall was born 30 September 1951 in Kalgoorlie and raised there and in Carnarvon before moving to Perth in Western Australia. Professor Marshall and his later colleague, Professor Robin Warren, were destined to meet and work together in WA. Robin Warren was born 11June 1937 in Adelaide and... ...Read More