The RCGP Discovery Prize
Purpose and Description
The Discovery Prize was endowed
in 2005 as an important international award recognising outstanding
research in general practice.
Important discoveries in general
practice have transformed health care and the well-being of
patients. Examples include Dr Edgar Hope-Simpson’s work on
establishing the link between chicken pox and shingles, or the work
of Michael Balint on the doctor-patient relationship.
The Discovery Prize will
recognise contemporary achievement of similar stature with
continuing major importance for primary care in the UK and abroad.
The terms ‘discovery’ and ‘research’ are to be interpreted broadly,
and may include qualitative and innovative work.
The Prize will consist of a medal
and a testimonial certificate, and will be presented by the
President of the College at a prestigious reception where the
winner will be invited to lecture to an invited audience. The
lecture will normally be published in the College Journal.
Winner of
2006
The inaugural prize was won in
2006 by Dr Julian Tudor Hart FRCGP, from Swansea, at a special
ceremony on 27th September 2006. Dr Julian Tudor Hart has
made pioneering contributions to population-based research, the
detection and management of hypertension in a Welsh mining
community . In a seminal paper on health inequalities in the
Lancet of February 1971, Dr Tudor Hart showed how the
availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the
health needs of the population served. This simple but far-reaching
observation (‘the inverse care law’) continues to inform health
policy to this day and throughout the world.
The Discovery Prize is awarded
every three years and the next deadline is End of Janurary
2009. A call for nominations will be made during latter part
of 2008.