We are deeply saddened that Professor Annette Dolphin, our former President, passed away early on the morning of 26 January 2026. Professor Dolphin died of a Lynch syndrome-associated duodenal tumour.

Professor Dolphin studied at the University of Oxford, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry in 1973. She then went onto study a PhD, which she was awarded in 1977 for her research on noradrenaline receptors at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London.

She worked at Collège de France, Yale University, the National Institute for Medical Research, St George’s, University of London, and the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, before attaining the position of Professor of Pharmacology in the Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, at University College London.

Professor Dolphin was a leader in the field of neuronal voltage-gated calcium channels, focused on how the channels were regulated and their roles in disease. She investigated the role of calcium channel subunits in chronic pain and identified how gabapentinoids, a prescription medication, worked to treat chronic pain.

During her career, she received several awards and honours, including the Physiological Society G. L. Brown Prize Lecture and Annual Review Prize Lecture. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1999 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2015.

She was President of the British Neuroscience Association from 2019 to 2021. She then served as President- Elect of the Physiological Society from 2022 to 2024, followed by her term as President from December 2024 until January 2026.

Professor Dolphin will be remembered as an outstanding neuroscientist, mentor, colleague and friend to many in the community.