The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7199 p739-746
25 May 2002

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161st Annual General Meeting summary

Presentation of Charter gold and silver medals

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Charter gold medal for 2002 was presented to Professor Peter Noyce, FRPharmS, Boots professor of pharmacy practice, University of Manchester, during a ceremony before the Society's annual general meeting on 15 May. The Charter silver medal was presented to Michael Burden, FRPharmS, of Leicester.

Making the presentations, the President, Marshall Davis, said that the Charter medals, instituted in 1963, are awarded by the Council on the recommendation of the President. The gold medal recognises outstanding services rendered by a member to the Society, or generally, in promoting the interests of pharmacy. The silver medal recognises outstanding services rendered by a member locally or to a specific sector of the profession.

The President said that Peter Noyce had spent 12 early years of his professional career in hospital pharmacy in London. He was one of the first regional drug information specialists and in 1980 was instrumental in establishing one of the first MSc degrees in clinical pharmacy. At the same time he was involved in developing management training for senior hospital pharmacists and pharmaceutical officers, running management training courses at the NHS training centre in Harrogate.

From 1983 to 1986 he served on the Nuffield Committee of Inquiry into Pharmacy. Immediately after his term on the Nuffield committee, he was appointed deputy chief pharmacist at the Department of Health, a position he held from 1986 to 1990.

In 1991, he was appointed to the new Boots chair in pharmacy practice at the University of Manchester, where he founded the drug usage and pharmacy practice group. He had supervised or co-supervised 12 PhD students on practice topics, and in the past five years had published about 30 full academic research papers. From 1994 to 1998 he was dean of Manchester's school of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, which now topped the pharmacy league tables in both research (5*) and teaching (24/24). He had built a successful practice research group, embracing multidisciplinary research teams and employing a significant number of social scientists.

Professor Noyce sits on the Medicines Commission, the Society's modernisation steering group and the Department of Health medicines management advisory group. He is acting director of the Centre for Pharmacy Posgraduate Education and chairman of the Society's pharmacy education research and development reference group.

Professor Noyce, in reply, said that he was delighted to accept the honour bestowed on him by the Society. During his career he had been fortunate in his mentors and colleagues , all of whom had touched him in some way. He also had to thank his pharmacist wife Sue and his teenage offspring Alastair and Rosie.

Presenting the silver medal, the PRESIDENT said that Mike Burden's career had been mostly in hospital pharmacy, culminating in his appointment as district pharmaceutical officer for Leicestershire from 1982 to 1993. He had trained more than 200 preregistration trainees and while involved in hospital pharmacy in Leicester he brought together five separate pharmacy departments to form the Leicestershire Pharmacy Service. He also helped to establish the Leicestershire Prescribing Guide — now in its 17th edition.

From his student days, he had maintained a keen interest in pharmaceutical affairs and he had been active in the Society's branches since 1961. He had been secretary of the South East Metropolitan branch and had chaired the Leicestershire and Rutland branch for three separate two-year periods. He has also served as secretary and public relations officer for that branch and chairman and secretary of the Sherwood region.

At the national level, he had been a member of the Society's Council (1989–95), pharmaceutical adviser to the Health Education Authority and secretary of the United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association. His record showed a commitment to his profession, said the President, "for which we are all extremely grateful".

Mr Burden, in reply, said that he owed thanks to many people who had influenced him and helped him enjoy his life in pharmacy. None of his achievements would have been possible, or as much fun, without his wife Vela, who was also a fellow of the Society.