About the Mackay Medal
From 1990-2023, in partnership with the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Donald Mackay Medal was awarded to individuals for their outstanding work in tropical health, especially relating to improvements in the health of rural or urban workers in the tropics. Preference was given to suitable medically qualified individuals. Dr. Donald MacKay, who was deputy Director of the Ross Institute at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, died in 1981 after many years working in tropical occupational health, especially on the tea plantations of South Asia. He was an outstanding physician, brilliant teacher, and a man of the greatest integrity and commitment.
The regulations for the award of the Donald Mackay Medal were agreed by the Trustees of the Mackay Memorial Fund and the Councils of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The medal was awarded annually with the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene selecting awardees in even-numbered years and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene selecting recipients in odd-numbered years. The Donald MacKay Medal was first awarded in 1990 to Ralph M. Henderson. A full list of medal recipients can be found below.
Donald Mackay the man
"Decades before bureaucrats had cooked up our modern alphabet soup of HMOs, ACOs and EHRs, a Scottish physician in the northeastern corner of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had found a recipe for streamlined and effective medical care in a catchment area of tens of thousands of rural villagers. Dr. Donald Mackay was Chief Medical Officer of the Sylhet tea plantations of the James Finlay Company, originally established in Bengal in 1901." 1
1 Two leaves and a bud: the significance of the Mackay Medal and its namesake by Emeritus Member David Nalin, MD, Dr. Sci. H.C. FACP, FASTMH, FRSTMH, FIDSA, a tribute to Donald Mackay, his work with tropical laborers and his lifelong support of collaborative UK-US relationships.
List of Medalists
 | 2023 Maria Friedly (Rebollo) WHO, Congo View an introduction of Dr. Friedly (Rebollo) by nominator Dr. Julie Jacobson. |
 | 2022 Rashida Ferrand London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine |
 | 2021 Philip Thuma Macha Research Trust |
 | 2020 Eleni Aklillu Karolinska Institute, Sweden |
 | 2019 Christopher King Case Western Reserve University |
 | 2018 Ahmed Hassan Fahal University of Khartoum, Sudan |
 | 2017 Patrick Lammie Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center at the Task Force for Global Health |
| 2016 Moses Bockarie EDCTP, South Africa | |
 | 2015 G. Dennis Shanks Army Malaria Institute, Australia |
2014
Alimuddin Zumla
2013
Myron M. Levine
Univeristy of Maryland School of Medicine
Gary J. Weil
Washington University School of Medicine
2012
Tewolde Gebremeskel
2011
David Sack
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
R. Bradley Sack
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2010
Tran Tin Hein
2009
Jane Cardosa
2008
Anthony D.M. Bryceson
2007
David Molyneux
2006
Paul Fine
2005
David Heymann
2004
Alan Fenwick
2003
Eric Ottesen
2001
Joseph Cook
2000
J.L. Tulloch
1999
Franklin Neva
1998
Eldryd Parry
1997
Hernando Groot
1996
Ahmed El Hassan
1995
Alfred Buck
1994
Jill Seaman
1993
Warren and Gretchen Berggren
1992
Bernard Koucher
1991
Brian Greenwood
1990
Ralph Henderson