Academician Wen-Hsiung Li has been awarded the Mendel Medal by the Genetics Society, UK. Dr. Li, who is a Distinguished Research Fellow and Director of the Biodiversity Research Center, became the first Asian recipient of the award. He received the medal and delivered the Mendel Lecture on November 13 in London.

The Mendel Lecture invitation is the highest honor conferred by the Society and is accompanied by the Mendel Medal. The Mendel Medal is a tribute to Dr. Li's lifetime achievement in genetics and evolutionary biology. The lecture and award ceremony were held at the closing of the conference, "Genetics and the Causes of Evolution: 150 Years of Progress since Darwin", a joint annual meeting of Genetics Society and Royal Society held in London November 12-13.

Dr. Li is an accomplished scientist. He was the recipient of the 2003 Balzan Prize for Genetics and Evolution from the International Balzan Foundation. He is also a fellow of both the National Academy of Sciences, USA, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been an Academician of Academia Sinica since 1998 and was elected the member of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, TWAS in 2009. In addition to his scientific research, Dr. Li is also devoted to educating the next generation of geneticists and evolutionists. He lectured at the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston for over twenty years, and has been the James Watson Professor of the Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago since 2004.

Established in 1919, the Genetics Society is the world's oldest genetics organization. It currently has 1,700 members consisting mostly of professional geneticists from the UK. The Mendel Lecture was created in honor of Gregor Johann Mendel, the father of genetics. The lecture invitation and accompanying medal are the highest honor of the Society, conferred to those who have made remarkable contributions to the field. In winning the award Dr. Li joins the company of many Nobel laureates, including Robert Horvitz and James Watson, who won the Mendel Medal in 2007 and 2000, respectively.