SAPC Principal Investigator or Principal Medical Educator of the Year Prize
How good is your Principal Investigator or Principal Medical Educator?
It’s competition time! Here at SAPC, the search is on again for the best, the most dedicated, and the most successful primary care Principal Investigator (PI) or Principal Medical Educator (PME). But we’re not interested in grants, or papers, or prizes. Oh no: we’re interested in something much more important than that. We want to find the star PI or PME who provides exceptional support, leadership and encouragement for their team through the highs and lows of research/education, careers and life. Does your PI or PME pay particular attention to facilitating opportunities for your development? Are they always looking out for the paper you should be writing, the Fellowship you should be applying for, or the conference you could be presenting at? Are they great at appraisals and reviews, understanding of your needs and concerns, and supportive in your career? Have they gone out of their way to help when things haven’t gone as planned? In short, who gets the prize for being an inspiring and dedicated leader? We want to know! We’re looking for examples of great practice to inspire all Principal Investigators or Principal Medical Educators to better support their early career research/education staff. And if your PI or PME is selected as “Primary Care PI/PME of the Year” there’s a great prize for them to say “thank you” for going the extra mile.
Questions?
Please contact office@sapc.ac.uk
How do I nominate my PI or PME?
Simply send us a statement of 200 words or less outlining why your PI or PME should be “PI/PME of the year”. Let us know what it is about them that has particularly impressed you and – if possible – any particular examples of what they have done to support you or your colleagues. Entries may be from an individual or a team. Please submit only one statement per PI/PME. We won’t tell the PI/PME who nominated them.
Please complete this form before the end of 31st March 2025.
How will the competition be judged?
Competition entries will be judged by the SAPC early careers working group, with input from the SAPC executive where necessary. We will judge entries solely on the basis of the statement submitted. Details of the winning PIs/PME will be circulated to SAPC members explaining what it is they did to merit the award.
Awarding the prize
The prize will be awarded in the summer of 2024. The lucky PI/PME will win a certificate to put up in their office, and of course, the ongoing respect of their peers and the academic primary care community.
A principal investigator (PI) is anyone who holds research grant funding and has staff working on their projects. They might have one member of their research team or twenty, but the qualifying condition is that they have grant money and have staff working on the grant.
A Principal Medical Educator (PME) is anyone who holds a leading role in the development and delivery of primary care education, and who supervises and supports one or more team members in the running of their programme or course.
2024 Professor Hugh Alberti, Newcastle
2023 Professor Blair Smith, Dundee
2022 Dr Charlotte Albury, Oxford
2021 Professor Kate Walters, UCL
2020 Professor Miriam Santer, Southampton
2019 Professor Christian Mallen, Keele