Congratulations to fifth-year medical students Milou Ottolini and Dhanush Ammineni who were jointly awarded the 2025 George Lewith Prize by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR).
This year marks a rare exception for the prize, which is usually awarded to a single student. The SPCR recognised both Milou and Dhanush for their outstanding Final Honours School research project exploring patients’ experiences with GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RAs) and the nutritional care they received. Their project highlighted important gaps in long-term support for patients and contributed valuable insights to the field of primary care.
Commenting on the award, Milou and Dhanush said:
'We are honoured to have received the George Lewith Prize for our research into patients’ experiences with GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RAs) and the wraparound care they received. This project was a truly eye-opening journey, shedding light on significant gaps in support and the challenges patients face in accessing adequate nutritional care. We hope our findings spark a wider conversation about the long-term care needs of individuals using GLP1-RAs.'
They also thanked their project supervisors Ellen Fallows and Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences Research Fellow Emily Owen-Boukra, the team at MyFood24 for access to their platform and the NIHR SPCR for their support and feedback.
Named in memory of Professor George Lewith – an influential academic in the field of primary care and complementary medicine – the annual prize competition recognises excellence in undergraduate research and encourages medical students to consider a future in academic primary care. The competition is open to all medical students from across the UK, providing winners with the opportunity to find out more about academic primary care and become involved in research. Additionally, winners receive a funded place at the Society for Academic Primary Care Annual Scientific Meeting.
Also highly commended this year were Poppy Pierce (UCL) and Megan Rafat (King’s College London) for their respective essays on cervical screening for patients with learning disabilities and physical health outcomes in patients with severe mental illness.
Read the full announcement on the NIHR SPCR website.