Only members can submit nominations. (Nominees can be members or non-members.) 

Donald Mackay Medal

Nominations for the next Donald Mackay Medal will open in 2025. View the list of past medalists below.

"The Donald Mackay Medal is presented for outstanding work in tropical health, especially relating to improvements in the health of rural or urban workers in the tropics. Preference is given to medically qualified individuals."

Please Note: Members of the Awards Committee cannot nominate anyone for a medal, cannot add a supporting letter or be nominated for a medal. Not being eligible to receive a medal also extends to all sitting members of the Board/Executive Committee. The Society encourages members to look beyond elected leadership in nominating deserving candidates. Former elected leaders are eligible.

In a long-standing partnership with the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Donald Mackay Medal is awarded in odd years by ASTMH and in even years by RSTMH for outstanding work in tropical health, especially relating to improvements in the health of rural or urban workers in the tropics. Preference is 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 of outstanding work 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 have been 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 is 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.

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

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. 

Medal Recipients
 

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
 
G-Dennis-Shanks2.jpg 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

GoTropMed