RSC President given CBE in Queen's Birthday Honours

The president of the Royal Society of Chemistry has been awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Dr Simon Campbell was given the prestigious accolade for services to science, which include helping create three key drugs as well as being at the forefront of the RSC's campaign to obtain more government funding for the chemical sciences.

He said: "I am delighted to have been awarded a CBE in the Queen's 80th Birthday Honours List and I was particularly pleased with the citation 'for services to science'.

"My career in the pharmaceutical industry was characterised by a passion for science, since a detailed understanding of the subtle interactions between small molecules and their complex biological targets is fundamental for the discovery of new medicines.

"Obviously, my CBE brings some personal recognition, but I also hope that this prestigious award will help enhance the value of science for the general public."

Born in Lapal, Worcestershire, in 1941, Dr Campbell obtained both his BSc (1962) and PhD (1965) degrees from the University of Birmingham, England, before carrying out postdoctoral research in Chile and at Stanford University in America.

He was then appointed visiting professor at the Universidad de Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1970. Two years later Dr Campbell joined Pfizer Central Research, Sandwich, as a medicinal chemist, and during the next 26 years co-authored over 110 publications and patents.

His career highlights include being a major part of the teams that discovered the drugs Cardura, Norvasc and Viagra.

Cardura is used to treat prostate enlargement and high blood pressure, Norvasc is also used to treat high blood pressure and angina, while the much-documented Viagra was the first oral treatment for male erectile dysfunction.
By the time of his retirement from Pfizer in 1998, Dr Campbell was the company's senior vice president for world-wide discovery and medicinal research and development in Europe.

His scientific contributions have been recognised by the Royal Society of Chemistry Award for Medicinal Chemistry (1989), the Herschberg Award from the American Chemical Society (1997), and the Industry Research Institute (US) Achievement Award (1997).  

In 1999, Dr Campbell was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Kent - an accolade later repeated by The University of Birmingham (2004). 

He has served on various professional and research bodies, and as chair of the Expert Scientific Advisory Committee for the Medicines for Malaria Venture (Geneva) from 1999-2003.  

As well as being a fellow of the RSC, Dr Campbell is a member of the American Chemical Society and was elected fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2003.

He currently works in a consultancy role for a wide range of companies in the UK and worldwide, and sits on both the Council of the University of Kent and the advisory council for CASE.