Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Congratulations are in order for Professor Dame Frances Ashcroft who was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Medical Science from Cambridge University, her alma mater, for her achievements including discoveries about the function and structure of ion channels and the role which certain channels play with insulin secretion and type 2 diabetes. 

The reward is the highest accolade that the University can bestow and the University has been conferring honorary degrees for some 500 years. One of the earliest recorded was in 1493, when the poet John Skelton was honoured.

The day of the Honorary Degree Congregation is a 'scarlet day', so called because doctors wear scarlet instead of black gowns.   Flags were flown to mark the occasion and the bells of the University Church rang out as processions walked around Senate-House Yard.

Here is the 'Ode to Ion Channels' in Latin (and it's English translation!), given by the Cambridge University Orator Rupert Thompson, when Fran received her award. 

fran3.jpgfran2.jpg

Below is Fran walking with the Mistress of Girton College, of which Fran is a Fellow.

copy_of_fran1.jpg



Similar stories

Professor Dame Frances Ashcroft to receive Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science

The Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science recognises women scientists with a stellar record of research accomplishments who also have made significant contributions to mentoring other women in science.

Annie Park to advance our understanding of how the brain encodes reward with new Wellcome Trust Award

Congratulations are in order for Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Annie Park who has been awarded a prestigious Wellcome Early-Career Award.

Physiological Society award to support prestigious CAJAL course for Raffaele Sarnataro

Congratulations are in order for Dr Raffaele Sarnataro who has been awarded a Professional Development Award by The Physiological Society. The award will support Dr Sarnataro’s selected participation on the Experimental Neuroscience Bootcamp 2023 delivered by the CAJAL Advanced Neuroscience Training Programme.

Armin Lak appointed Associate Professor of Integrative Neuroscience

The post is in association with a Tutorial Fellowship at St John's College.

Inaugural Fellowship to Charmaine Lang paves the way to improved human models for Parkinson's drug discovery

Congratulations are in order for Departmental Research Lecturer Dr Charmaine Lang who has been awarded the first jointly funded Senior Research Fellowship from Parkinson’s UK and Rosetrees Trust. With this award, Dr Lang will develop complex new induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models that target the interaction between dopamine neurons and astrocytes in the brain and how these fail in the context of Parkinson's.