ASPET member V. Craig Jordan, CMG, OBE, DSc, PhD, FMedSci, FBPhS, FASPET, has been named the 2023 Sir Henry Wellcome Gold Medal recipient. This recognition is the highest award from the British Pharmacological Society that recognizes outstanding achievement and leadership in pharmacology and therapeutics.

Dr. Jordan has received numerous awards during his 50-year career for his revolutionary research in women’s health, most notably breast cancer. Jordan discovered “Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators” (SERMs).  Unexpectedly, Jordan discovered that “non-steroidal antiestrogens” could increase bone density in estrogen-free rats but simultaneously prevent estrogen-stimulated mammary tumor growth. SERMs became a successful treatment and prevention of breast cancer.

Dr. Jordan joined the British Pharmacological Society in 1976 and was selected as an inaugural Fellow in 2004. In addition to the Sir Henry Wellcome Gold Medal award, he was recognized by the British Pharmacological Society with the Gaddum Memorial Award (1993) and the Sir James Black Award for contributions to Drug Discover (2015). After coming to the United States in 1980, Dr. Jordan joined ASPET. He was named an ASPET Fellow in 2021. He also received the ASPET Award for Experimental Therapeutics (1993), the Louis S. Goodman and Alfred Gilman Award in Receptor Pharmacology (2012) and the Reynold Spector Awards in Clinical Pharmacology (2019). 

Jordan is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2009), the National Academy of Medicine (2017), an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (2008) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2009). He is currently a Dallas/Fort Worth Living Legend, Chair of Cancer Research, Professor of Breast Medical Oncology, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, Chief, Section of Basic Science Research and Pharmacology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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