Departmental Prizes for Undergraduate Medical Students
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Professional Practice Prizes
- Year 1 Learning with Patients course - Professional Practice Prize
- Year 2 Learning with Patients course - Professional Practice Prize
- Year 4 GP Placement (PDII) – Professional Practice Prize
- Year 5 / GE Year 3 GP Placement (CBM) - Professional Practice Prize
These are departmental prizes for students undertaking GP practice-based placements across our courses in Years 1 & 2, Year 4, and Year 5 / GE. The prizes aim to raise students' awareness of excellence in professional behaviour and primary care scholarship.
GP tutors are encouraged to nominate any student they feel has shown excellence in their approach to their placement. This may include (but is not limited to): enthusiasm and engagement with clinical activities; punctuality and attendance; consideration of patient wellbeing; interactions with members of the practice team; critical thinking and reflection; scholarship and innovation. Tutors submit feedback to explain their nomination. At the end of the academic year, the central Primary Care Teaching Group will consider all nominations and award one prize for each course.
Details of these prizes are given on the relevant course Canvas pages.
The value of each prize £250
The prize winners will include a letter of recognition and a certificate from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.
Academic Year 2024-25 Inaugural Prize Winners
Year 1 Learning with Patients - Professional Practice Prize Joint winners: Freya Stevens & Ojas Rajkumar Nominated by Dr Laurence Leaver.
Freya Stevens
Dr Leaver's commendations: Freya: "Amazingly empathic with patients, an excellent communicator, and a good contributor to discussions." Ojas: "Always enthusiastic, very knowledgeable, and prepared for each session. Very personable and conscientious about asking patients' ideas, concerns, and expectations."
Year 2 Learning with Patients – Professional Practice Prize Winner: Conall Islip, Nominated by Dr Duncan Rourke.
Conall Islip
Dr Rourke praised Conall's:
- Enthusiastic engagement and enjoyment of reflective discussions
- Ability to facilitate group contributions
- Natural inquisitiveness and drive to improve
- Broad knowledge and lateral thinking skills
Aurnia Barlow
Year 4 GP Placement – Professional Practice Prize Winner: Aurnia Barlow Nominated by Dr Peach.
Highlights from Dr Peach's nomination:
- Intuitive skill in patient interactions
- Quick to learn clinical skills
- Respectful of all healthcare team members
- Described as professional, engaging, and polite by other GPs.
Year 3 Final Honours School (FHS)
This prize is awarded each academic year for the best FHS project undertaken within NDPCHS. The prize will be judged by a panel that includes members of the department familiar with supervising these projects, the Academic Lead for Engagement with Academic Primary Care (Dr Alison Convey) and the Department Coordinator for FHS (Dr David Nunan).
The value of each prize £250
The prize winners will include a letter of recognition and a certificate from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.
Year 4 GP Placement – Reflection Prize
The Reflection Prize is awarded to the student who has most effectively embraced the remit of the Extended Patient Contact Report. The winner is expected to have produced a thorough and detailed report which demonstrates exceptional reflection.
Value of each prize £250
The prize winners will include a letter of recognition and a certificate from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.
Year 4 GP Placement – Reflection Prize Winner 2023: Rose Faure
Judging panel's comments: "Vivid description of a patient's cancer impact on family life. Thoughtful, insightful, and honest reflection, voicing personal preconceptions and concerns."
Martin Lawrence Oxford–Nordic Medical Scholarship
We are delighted to invite applications from final year medical students for the Martin Lawrence Scholarship.
A reciprocal exchange initiative enabling medical students from Oxford and Nordic institutions to experience primary care practices in their respective countries, fostering cross-cultural learning and comparative healthcare insights.
The award was established in the memory of Dr Martin Lawrence; A renowned academic and acting leader of Oxford's Primary Care Department, whose brilliant career was cut short by his untimely passing in 1999 at just 55 years of age. Known for his passion for teaching and dedication to both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, Dr Lawrence also had personal ties with the Nordic countries. This scholarship continues his legacy, fostering collaboration and mutual learning between Oxford and Nordic medical communities.
The Moher Prize for Undergraduate General Practice
The Moher Prize was launched in 2019. It is a University award which seeks to promote innovation in primary care by the next generation of doctors. It is open to Year 5 students and encourages them to develop their knowledge and skills beyond the standard requirements. The emphasis is on creating work which is inspirational and original, ideally leading to an improvement in care for patients.
News
Ryan Danvers
The 2024 winner of the Moher Prize was Ryan Danvers with an innovative project promoting improved care for patients with Parkinson's disease.
"I am delighted to be the winner of the Moher Prize, as this was a great opportunity to engage my interests in EDI and innovation to devise novel solutions to critical problems affecting the lives of patients.
My project focused on creating a more equitable pathway for adult ADHD diagnosis in primary care, inspired by the prolonged waiting times individuals face in the current system offered by the NHS. Unfortunately, overwhelmed ADHD assessment pathways have forced those who can afford it to seek private assessment: further exacerbating pre-existing health inequities.
Acknowledging the severe impact of untreated ADHD on education, employment, relationships, finances and overall wellbeing, I saw this as an opportunity to work towards creating a more equitable solution to this problem. Within this project, I explored the opinions of GPs from 19 Beaumont Street on two proposed ways primary care could help, via: 1) improved recognition of ADHD particularly within underserved groups, and 2) up-skilling clinicians to diagnose ADHD within primary care.
I hope the insights gained from this project set the foundation for a more elaborate investigation into stakeholders’ perspective in the future, to potentially influence future revision of the adult ADHD assessment pathway."
External Prizes
There are a number of national Primary Care prizes for undergraduate students and we encourage you to apply. Please see links below for some examples.
Society for Academic Primary Care Medical Student Prize
(Previous Oxford undergraduate winners include: Martha Hughes – 2023; Hettie Davis – 2022)