Born in Belfast, Ireland, Wright joined the faculty of the medical school in 1967, and was tapped to chair the physiology department in 1987.
His research focuses on the structure, function and genetics of transport proteins, which act as gatekeepers for the body by carrying essential molecules in and out of cells. In 2003, his research team identified a new protein that senses changes in glucose, the blood sugar that fuels body function. The UCLA discovery could lead to the development of new drugs to control diabetes and obesity.
In his 38-year tenure at UCLA, Wright has mentored more than 40 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. During his career, he received the Senator Jacob K. Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health from 1985 to 1992, and was named the Walter B. Cannon Distinguished Lecturer by the American Physiological Society in 1989, the G.W. Harris Lecturer by the British Physiological Society in 1990 and a Fellow of the Biophysical Society in 2005.
He has served on the editorial boards for several physiology journals, consults for the National Institutes of Health, and is a scientific advisor to the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Medical Foundation in Los Angeles.
Wright earned his doctorate degrees in physiology from London University and Sheffield University in England, and conducted his research fellowship at Harvard University in Boston. He met his wife, psychologist Brenda Keys, while attending high school in Coventry, England. He grew up in Magheramore, Ireland, and attended Larne Grammar School in Ulster.
The Royal Society is the world's oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, and has been at the forefront of research since its foundation in 1660. Each year, the British society applies a rigorous peer review process to elect a maximum of 44 new fellows and six foreign members who are citizens of the United Kingdom, other Commonwealth countries or Ireland.
The lifetime honor pays tribute to the society's most distinguished members who have demonstrated excellence in research and made a substantial contribution to advancing understanding in their field of science, medicine, engineering or mathematics.
More than 65 Nobel Laureates currently number among the organization's 1,300 fellows and foreign members. Society members include Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Hodgkin, Francis Crick, James Watson and Stephen Hawking.
For more information about the Royal Society and the complete list of 2005 fellows, see http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/news.asp?id=3181 and http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=2210.