The Society is saddened to hear of the death of Professor David Brown. Professor Brown served on the editorial board for The Society’s The Journal of Physiology and was elected an Honorary Member in 2003.

Professor Brown is celebrated for his remarkable contribution to ion channel regulation and neuronal physiology. He discovered a new potassium channel, called the M channel, which dampens the excitability of neurons. He is also renowned for his work on channel biophysics, function and regulation, which has contributed to the development of drugs to treat epilepsy and pain. His research achievements won him the Feldberg Prize in 1992.

He began his career studying Chemistry, Zoology and Physiology at University College London, where he graduated with a BSC. He then specialised in physiology before completing a PhD in Pharmacology from St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College.

From 1974 – 1987, he was Wellcome Professor of Pharmacology at The School of Pharmacy at University College London. By 1987, he was made Head of Department and served from 1987 to 2002. During this time, he also held visiting professorships in the Universities of Chicago, Iowa and Texas (US), and the University of Kanazawa (Japan), and was a Fogarty Scholar-in-Residence, a prestigious post to hold, at the National Institutes of Health (US).

He was committed to international collaboration and scientific exchange. He demonstrated this throughout his career having trained over 20 PhD students, 30 postdoctoral researchers and hosted 15 visiting researchers.

In 1990, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and was honoured by many societies, gaining Honorary Fellow and Council Member of the British Pharmacological Society, an Elected Fellow of the Institute of Biology in 1980 and an Elected Fellow of Academia Europaea in 1996.

As well as publishing in prominent journals, he also served as Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Pharmacology, and was on the editorial boards of several other journals, including the Journal of Physiology, Neuron, Trends in Neurosciences and Proceedings of the Royal Society.