Richard Beasley
Professor Richard Beasley, of Wellington, received the Insignia of a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit for services to medical research, particularly asthma, on 3 September 2008. A medical researcher for more than 20 years, he is a member of the World Health Organisation Global Initiative on Asthma Advisory Committee, the Steering Committee for the International Study of Asthma & Allergies in Childhood and has been consulted on a number of occasions by the United States Food and Drug Administration. He was professor and head of the Department of Medicine at the Wellington School of Medicine from 1993 to 2001 and subsequently established the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand.