Her Majesty The Queen has appointed Professor Colin Darnley McCaig to the Regius Chair of Physiology at the University of Aberdeen.
Professor McCaig (48) is currently the Head of Department, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, a post he has held since 1998. He received his First Class BSc Honours (Physiology) as an undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh in 1975 and then went on to receive his PhD in Physiology in 1980 at the University of Glasgow. He is a member of 7 professional societies including the British Society for Developmental Biology, the American Society for Cell Biology and the Society for Neuroscience.
Professor McCaig's research interests are in tissue development and regeneration, in particular with regard to the nervous system, the vascular system and the eye.
Regius Professors are a royal prerogative with ad hoc nominations put to the Monarch for consideration. Aberdeen University has had 13 Regius Professors with the earliest dating back to 1505. The Regius Chair of Physiology was originally appointed at the University of Aberdeen in 1860.
Professor Stephen Logan, Provost and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Medical Sciences warmly welcomed the appointment and said; "I am absolutely delighted that a physiologist of such standing has been appointed to the Regius Chair."