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Biography: Sir Ralph Kohn FRS

Sir Ralph Kohn is a pharmacologist, entrepreneur and musician.

He was educated at Manchester University, where he was awarded a BSc, MSc and PhD and received the Wild Prize in Pharmacology. He won postdoctoral fellowships to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome, where he worked and published with two Nobel Laureates, and to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He subsequently joined the pharmaceutical industry in the Research and Development Division of a US company. After seven years with the company, he was appointed MD of a Swiss biological organisation.

In 1969 Sir Ralph founded his own company, the first specifically Medical Services company in the UK, specialising in the clinical evaluation of new therapeutic substances. The company received the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement for services to the pharmaceutical industry in 1990.

In 1991 he set up the Kohn Foundation, which has supported many scientific, medical and artistic projects.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is an Honorary Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and the Royal College of Physicians, and a member of Academia Europaea. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006, and he currently serves on its 350th Anniversary Campaign Board. The Kohn Foundation has supported several important initiatives at the Society, including its Science in Society Programme, the Royal Society Kohn Award for Excellence in engaging the Public with Science, and the Climate Change Unit of the Royal Society Science Policy centre. Last year Ralph was awarded a Doctor of Music and knighted in the Honours List for “services to science, music and charity” in 2009/2010. He was appointed President of the Birmingham & Midland Institute in January 2011.

Sir Ralph was awarded the “Medal of Honour” by the Lord Mayor of the City of Leipzig in June 2011 for his substantial contributions in promoting J. S. Bach and his support of the Bach Festival in Leipzig.