Family and colleagues celebrate much-missed 'pivotal' figure at University of Buckingham

Prof Cawthorne played a pivotal role in setting up the university’s Medical School and was known worldwide for his research, based at the university's Clore Laboratory, into diabetes and obesity. He died suddenly following a heart attack in 2015, at the age of 73.

At the ceremony, Prof Terence Kealey, who was vice-chancellor when the Medical School was established, and Prof Karol Sikora, the founding Dean of the Medical School, were joined by former and current Clore Lab colleagues including Prof Jon Arch and current director of the Clore Lab, Prof Mohamed Zaibi, as well as Prof Cawthorne’s PA, Julie Cakebread.

The plaque was unveiled by Prof Cawthorne's partner, Liz Riseborough, who lives in Dadford. His sons, Mark and David, and their families also attended.

VIce-chancellor James Tooley said: "Mike played a pivotal role in the founding of the Medical School.

“He is also remembered for his pioneering research into diabetes and obesity around the world. He is greatly missed."

Prof Cawthorne was the director of the Buckingham Institute for Metabolic Research, based at the Clore Lab, and Dean of Science and Postgraduate Medicine.

During more than 25 years at the university, he held various senior positions. As head of the Medical School, he was a key figure in driving forward the vision of former vice-chancellor Terence Kealey and Dean of Medicine Prof Karol Sikora to create first the postgraduate and then the undergraduate Medical School.

Obesity was Prof Cawthorne's main scientific area of interest. He was chairman of the Association for the Study of Obesity, later becoming founding secretary and vice-president of the International Association for the Study of Obesity.

It was in the field of Type 2 diabetes that he achieved his greatest scientific success. He led the Beecham team that, in 1987 discovered the drug rosiglitazone, one of the first of a new class of drug to help with Type 2 diabetes.

For this, Mike and his team were given a Society of Medicines Research award for drug discovery in 2001,

But despite international scientific renown, he remained a humble man, saying: “I am still learning from my collaborators and my postgraduate students."