Manson Medal

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The Manson Medal (full name Sir Patrick Manson Medal,[1] originally the Manson Memorial Medal[2]), named in honour of Sir Patrick Manson, is the highest accolade the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene awards. Started in 1923, it is awarded triennially to an individual whose contribution to tropical medicine or hygiene is deemed worthy by the council.[1]

Patrick Manson was a pioneer in medical science called tropical medicine. His discoveries of parasitic infections such as lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis (the parasite Schistosoma mansoni), sparganosis, and contribution to malaria research earned him the title "father of tropical medicine."[3] Soon after his death in 1922, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene decided to create a new medal in his honour. The first Manson Medal was awarded to Sir David Bruce in 1923. The 2022 Manson Medal was awarded to Sir Alimuddin Zumla, the first time in a hundred years that it was awarded to an ethnic minority scientist.[4]

History

Background

Sir Patrick Manson was a Scottish

vector biology.[7] In 1902, he discovered the species of blood fluke, Schistosoma, that caused intestinal bilharziasis. The first Schistosoma species, S. haemtabobium, that caused urinary bilharziasia was discovered by a German physician Theodor Bilharz in 1851. Louis Westenra Sambon gave the name of the second species, Schistosomum mansoni in 1907 in honour of the discoverer.[8][9] In 1882, Manson discovered sparganosis, a parasitic infection caused by the tapeworm Spirometra.[10][11]

In 1894, Manson formulated the mosquito-malaria theory to explain the hitherto unknown process of the transmission of malaria, one of the deadliest parasitic diseases in humans. Based on his experiences in parasitic infections, he predicted that malarial parasites were protozoans and that they were transmitted by mosquitos.[12][13] The theory was experimentally proved by Ronald Ross in India who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for the discovery.[14] For his contributions, Manson had been recognised as the "father of tropical medicine."[3]

Establishment

The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, (RSTMH) was founded in 1907 by Sir James Cantlie and George Carmichael Low. Manson became the first elected president of the society, serving from 1907 to 1909.[15] Sir Willaim Boog Leishman, Major-General of the Army Medical Services, felt that the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, an institute Manson had established, should contain a respectable portrait of the founder. In 1921, Leishman collected donations from friends and admirers as the Portrait Fund.[1] There was a leftover of fund after completion of the project.[16] After Manson's death in 1922, the surplus money was given to the RSTMH to institute an award for scientists with outstanding contributions to tropical medicine and hygiene.[17][1]

On 26 September 1922, the first Manson Memorial Medal (as an honorary award) was given to Lady Manson (Henrietta Isabella Manson) in recognition of her support to Manson throughout the latter's career. The medal was made in bronze having Manson's portrait on one side and the reverse an inscription, "London School of Tropical Medicine."[16]

Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, the president of the Royal Society announced on 30 November 1922:

The Manson Memorial Medal, this year instituted there for triennial award to work of special distinction in Tropical Medicine, is a tribute to Manson's work of example and leadership in that field of medical science.[18]

First medal and modifications

After the first medal to Lady Manson, RSTMH decided to change the inscription to "Tropical Medicine and Hygiene."[16] The first official medal was given to Sir David Bruce in 1923.[17] Bruce had made pioneering studies and discoveries in tropical medicine. In 1886 he led the Malta Fever Commission that investigated an outbreak of Malta fever (later eponymously called brucellosis) in Malta. He discovered that the disease was due to a bacterium, later named Brucella.[19][20] In 1894, he discovered a protozoan parasite (later named after him as Trypanosoma brucei) that caused animal sleeping sickness (nagana) in Zululand. Then he led Sleeping Sickness Commission in 1902 to investigate the cause of human sleeping sickness. His team discovered that the infection was transmitted by the tsetse fly (Glossina palpalis).[21][22]

The inscription had been changed to "Tropical Medicine. A.D. 1922" to commemorate the death year of Manson.[1]

Recipients

The Manson Medal is given every three years since 1923, as follows:[23]

Year Recipient
1923 David Bruce
1926 Ettore Marchiafava
1929 Ronald Ross, FRS
1932 Theobald Smith[24]
1935 John William Watson Stephens, FRS
1938 Leonard Rogers
1941
Emile Brumpt
1944 Rickard Christophers, FRS
1947 Charles Morley Wenyon
1950 Neil Hamilton Fairley, FRS
1953 Jerome Rodhain
1956 John Alexander Sinton, FRS
1959 Henry Edward Shortt, FRS
1962 Edmond Sergent
1965 Cyril Garnham, FRS
1968
John Smith Knox Boyd
, FRS
1971 Gordon Covell
1974 Cecil Hoare
1977 James H S Gear
1980 Richard J W Rees
1983 Ralph Lainson, FRS
1986 William Trager
1989 David F Clyde
1992 Leonard Goodwin
1995 Philip Edmund Clinton Manson-Bahr
1998 David Weatherall
2001 Brian Greenwood
2004 Wallace Peters
2007
Herbert M Gilles
2010 Nicholas White
2013
David H Molyneux
2016 Peter Piot
2019 Janet Hemingway, FRS

David Warrell

2022 Alimuddin Zumla

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Sir Patrick Manson Medal | RSTMH". rstmh.org. Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  2. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)55215-5
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  3. ^
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  4. ^ UCL (2022-10-19). "UCL academic receives prestigious global health award". UCL News. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  5. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34865. Retrieved 3 February 2014. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  6. PMID 26038403
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  7. PMID 33943770
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  8. ^ Sambon, L.W. (1907). "Remarks on Schistosomum mansoni". Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 10: 303–304.
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  10. PMID 23829923
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  11. ISBN 978-3-642-39823-0
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  12. ^ Lalchhandama, K (2014). "The making of modern malariology: from miasma to mosquito-malaria theory" (PDF). Science Vision. 14 (1): 3–17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-27.
  13. PMID 21313134
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  14. S2CID 207200295
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  15. ^ Leggat, Peter A. (2007). "The centenary of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene". Annals of the ACTM. 8 (1): 1.
  16. ^
    PMID 20770873
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  17. ^
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  18. ISSN 0950-1207
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  19. PMID 9204307
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  20. PMID 14368591.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link
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  21. S2CID 41052902
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  22. PMID 18275594
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  23. ^ "List of past medal holders". Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
  24. doi:10.1038/129716b0
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