Tony Avery, Professor of Primary Care in The University of Nottingham's Medical School will be recognised this week as one of the best researchers in general practice.
Considered to be one of the leading patient-safety researchers in the world he will be presented with the Royal College of General Practitioners’ (RCGP) John Fry Award on Friday 16 May 2008 for promoting the discipline of general practice through research and publishing as a practising GP. The award is a silver medal with the College’s Coat of Arms.
The citation, to be delivered by RCGP Honorary Secretary, Dr Maureen Baker, acknowledges Professor Avery as “quite simply one of the best researchers we have had in general practice”. It describes his output of 67 peer reviewed publications of original research and the number and size of grants he is able to hold and effectively deliver at any one time as impressive.
The award commemorates the work of the late John Fry, perhaps the most prominent GP of his generation involved in research.
Professor Avery said: “It is a great honour to receive this Award and I would like to thank all the people who have contributed to my research over the years, including academic colleagues, research staff, NHS clinicians and patients”.
Professor Avery is currently involved in a £750,000 study of a new electronic transfer system for repeat prescriptions which is being rolled out across the NHS. Patients could be saved millions of trips to their GP under a new scheme that has the potential to revolutionise the system of prescribing medicines. A team of experts will spend two years analysing whether the system will benefit patients and the NHS.
Professor Avery graduated in medicine from the University of Sheffield in 1986. He trained as a GP in Nottingham and since 1992 has worked part-time in general practice in the city. He has held an academic appointment at The University of Nottingham since 1992.
He is viewed as having made a significant personal contribution to developing the Division of General Practice at the University into one of the foremost centres for Academic Practice in the UK. He is a highly respected GP, having built up a high quality practice and continuing to offer national clinical leadership through his editorship of Prescriber. As secretary of the Heads of Departments of General Practice he has influenced the political development of academic primary care.
Dr Maureen Baker said: “Professor Avery’s work, from the prospective of reducing medication errors is immensely valuable and indeed is world leading. His research in this area has been methodically built up from an interest in prescribing and therapeutics and then through a realisation of the importance of safe systems in supporting safe medication. His ground breaking work has attracted international attention, culminating in an invitation to be a visiting professor at Harvard University in 2006.
“I am very proud that a Fellow of our College is taking forward the Patient Safety movement in a direction which I truly believe will lead to safer and more effective care for patients.”