Richard Beasley (physician)


Charles Richard William Beasley is a New Zealand academic physician, the founder and Director of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, and as of 2019 is a full professor at the Victoria University of Wellington.

Academic career

After studying medicine at the University of Otago, Beasley rose to full professor at Victoria University of Wellington, with connections to Wellington Hospital and the universities of Otago and University of Southampton.
Beasley has received multiple grants from the Health Research Council of New Zealand.

Awards and honours

In the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours, Beasley was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to medical research, in particular asthma. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2015. In 2019, he was awarded the Health Research Council of New Zealand's Beaven Medal. In 2024 he was awarded the Rutherford Medal for "revolutionising the treatment of asthma worldwide".

Selected works