Professor Sir Martin Evans was the first scientist to identify embryonic stem cells, which can be adapted for a wide variety of medical purposes. His discoveries are now being applied in virtually all areas of biomedicine – from basic research to the development of new therapies. In 2001 he was awarded the Albert Lasker Medal for Basic Medical Research. He was knighted in 2004 for his services to medical science. In 2007, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for these “ground-breaking discoveries concerning embryonic stem cells and DNA recombination in mammals.”
Sir Martin gained his BA in Biochemistry from Christ College, University of Cambridge in 1963. He received an MA in 1966 and a DSc in 1996. In 1969 he was awarded a PhD from University College, London. After a career at University College London and Cambridge University, he joined Cardiff University to head the School of Biosciences in 1999.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1993 and is a founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, University of Bath, University of Athens, University of Buckinghamshire, University College London, and the University of Wales.
He has received the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Baly Medal of the Royal College of Physicians, the UCL Prize Medal and the Copley Medal of the Royal Society. Among other honours he has been elected an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, a Freeman of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London and to an honorary membership of the Biochemical Society. In 2007 he was named as the Morgan Stanley Great Briton of the year for Science and Innovation. In November 2009 he became President of Cardiff University.
Martin has been a Trustee of Breakthrough Breast Cancer since October 2004.
