The award honouring Neil Towers was established by the NHPRS in 2012.  Recipients have made significant contributions to natural products research, regulation and commercialization in Canada and worldwide.

G. H. Neil Towers (1923-2004)
Dr. Towers was a botanist, an ethnobotanist, a plant chemist, a brilliant teacher and an accomplished researcher. He obtained his BSc and MSc from McGill University, and his doctorate in plant physiology in 1954 from Cornell University. He established his scientific career first at McGill and then at the National Research Council in Halifax. In 1964, he was recruited to UBC where he maintained an active research program as a full faculty member until 1989 and as an emeritus faculty until his death. He received many awards including the Flavelle Medal and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1986) and the Pergamon Phytochemistry Prize by the Phytochemical Society of Europe (2000). He published more than 425 papers and book chapters, starting with a 1953 paper in Nature. He mentored 12 MSc and 26 PhD students thereby establishing a generation scientists following in his footsteps.

Nominations can be made by any member in good standing in NHPRS, and must be co-sponsored by a second member. Nomination files should include a brief outline of the reasons for the nomination in relation to the above criteria (0.5 page) and a short biography of the nominated individual (0.5 page). Nomination files should be sent to the President of the NHPRS of Canada by email by the end of February of each year.

The award will be announced at each Annual Conference of the Society, and the awardee will be presenting an award lecture at the conference.

2019

Dr. Heather Boon
Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life, University of Toronto
Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto

2018

Dr. Robin J. Marles
Senior Scientific Advisor, Nutrition Premarket Assessment Division
Bureau of Nutritional Sciences, Food Directorate, Health Canada
Chair, USP Botanical Dietary Supplements and Herbal Medicines Expert Committee

2017