We’re delighted to share with you details of award success for colleagues across the BTRU. We’re particularly proud of our early career researchers – the quality of their research is evidenced by the award of an array of notable national and international prizes.
European Society for Transplantation (ESOT) Da Vinci Award
The ESOT Leonardo Da Vinci Transplant Research Innovation Award is a prestigious honour given during the ESOT Congress to recognise top clinical and basic science innovations in transplantation. Eight finalists (four clinical and four basic science) from submitted abstracts are shortlisted to present, with two winners chosen to receive a €10,000 grant and potential publication in Transplant International. The BTRU has had two previous winners of this prestigious international award, both early career researchers: Dharesh Raj Amarnath (Wilson Group, Theme 2) in 2025 and Emily Thompson (Wilson Group, Theme 2) in 2021.
British Transplantation Society (BTS) Medawar Medal
In recognition of Peter Medawar, the father of transplantation immunology and founding chairman of the BTS, two prestigious Medawar Medals are awarded at each Annual Congress to the young doctors/scientists presenting the best clinical and scientific papers. We’re so proud that early career researchers from the BTRU have won this award for research excellence each year for the last five years – a truly remarkable record.
2026 Serena MacMillan (Nicholson Group, Theme 1)
2025 Weiyi Tan (Theme 2)
2024 Hannah Copley (Kosmoliaptsis Group, Theme 3)
2023 Roy Zhang (Clatworthy Group, Theme 5)
2022 Ashley Priddey (Kosmoliaptsis Group, Theme 3)
British Transplantation Society Roy Calne Award
The Roy Calne Award is made to the competitive winner of submission of a peer-reviewed publication in a recognised academic journal. The award honours the substantial contribution made by Roy Calne, previous Professor of Surgery in Cambridge, to the surgery and science of transplantation. Three of our early career researchers have received the award in recent years.
2025 Serena MacMillan (Nicholson Group, Theme 1)
2023 Emily Thompson (Wilson Group, Theme 2)
2021 Jenna DiRito (Nicholson Group, 2015-2022 BTRU, Theme 4)
British Transplantation Society Calne–Williams Medal
The Calne–Williams Medal recognises two giants in liver transplantation – Professor Sir Roy Calne and Professor Roger Williams. The award is for the best oral paper presented at the Calne–Williams Medal session during the Annual Congress by a trainee who is a member of the Society. In 2026 we had our first winner of this prestigious award, early career researcher Teresa Brevini from the Sampaziotis Group (Theme 1).
British Transplantation Society Herrick Award
The BTS Herrick Award is presented for the highest scoring clinical abstract. In 2026, early career researcher Maithili Mehta (Nicholson Group, Theme 1) was the recipient, concluding a hugely successful Annual Congress with three of the major awards going to BTRU early career researchers.
Many of our senior BTRU colleagues have also achieved award success and recognition during the unit’s tenure, providing further evidence of the strength of our work.
