Prof. Chris Del Mar And Associate Professor Leanne Rowe To Receive Rose-Hunt Award, The RACGP's Most Prestigious Honour, Australia

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 02 Oct 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) will tonight recognise the outstanding commitment to Australian general practice made by Prof Chris Del Mar, Dean of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University and Pro-Vice Chancellor of research, Bond University and A/Prof Leanne Rowe, Deputy Chancellor, Monash University and former Chair, RACGP Council and Chair, RACGP Victoria Faculty. Prof Del Mar and A/Prof Rowe have been recognised with the RACGP's most prestigious honour, the Rose-Hunt Award.

The Rose-Hunt Award is a medal named after two of the founding members of the Royal College of General Practitioners in the United Kingdom, Dr Fraser Rose and Dr John Hunt, and is a gift to the RACGP from the UK college. The award recognises the work of its recipient in promoting the aims and objectives of the RACGP.

Presenting the award tonight at the Academic Session of the Wonca Asia Pacific Regional Conference/ RACGP Annual Scientific Convention (ASC) 2008 in Melbourne, outgoing RACGP President Dr Vasantha Preetham congratulated Prof Del Mar and A/Prof Rowe and thanked them for their dedication and outstanding service to the college, to general practice and to the Australian community.

"The Rose-Hunt Award recognises outstanding individuals in Australian general practice; in this regard Prof Del Mar and A/Prof Rowe are very worthy recipients of this important award," said Dr Vasantha Preetham, outgoing RACGP President.

"Together their leadership has been inspiring and has returned much to the profession they have both shown such dedication to. Prof Del Mar has excelled as a researcher, an educator and a writer. His work has pushed the boundaries of Australian general practice. He is a visionary leader in our profession whose work is recognised internationally and has delivered for local GPs a broader understanding of testing in general practice, and the importance of evidence for the work that we do.

"I have worked closely with A/Prof Rowe on RACGP Council and have seen first hand her leadership efforts to re-build our Victoria Faculty. She has also shown remarkable fortitude, commitment and determination in raising the issue of safety in general practice after the tragic murder of her close friend, Melbourne GP Dr Khulod Maarouf-Hassan in 2006. Her work will help to ensure a safer profession for our GPs, members of our practice teams and our patients," said Dr Preetham.

Prof Chris Del Mar

Prof Del Mar was appointed as Dean of Health Sciences and Medicine at Bond University in 2004, and Pro-Vice Chancellor of research, Bond University, in 2005. Prior to this he was Professor of General Practice at the University of Queensland between 1995 and 2004. He has also served as Head of the Division of Community Health and General Practice, and established and was inaugural director of the University of Queensland's Inala Health Centre of General Practice. He was appointed Visiting Professor of General Practice at Oxford University in 2007.

Professor Del Mar's outstanding research track record has lead to him being acknowledged as a leader in general practice research. His research interests include many aspects of general practice, such as skin cancer management, preventive health, women's health, quality assurance, spontaneously remitting disease, medical records, and evidence-based medicine.

Professor Del Mar is a highly cited author who has published over 200 research papers, reviews, book chapter and books, which are summarised as follows:

- 4 books, (2 as first named author);
- 17 book chapters;
- 132 peer reviewed scientific papers;
- 83 refereed editorials, letters or comments;
- 153 conference papers, published abstracts or reports.

He is also a coordinating editor of the international Cochrane Collaboration. In the past he was editor of the research section of the Australian Family Physician, Chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) National Research Committee, and President of the Australian Association for Academic General Practice. He chairs the editorial committee of the Australian Government's health web portal, HealthInsite.

Associate Professorleanne Rowe

A/Prof Rowe has a long history of supporting the aims and objectives of the RACGP. She served from 2002 - 2006 as RACGP Victoria Faculty Chair and Secretary of RACGP Council.

Her support of female GPs in pursuing continuing professional development (CPD) saw her introduce the child friendly CPD weekends, and she was instrumental in furthering the professional development weekends for female GPs, which are now a regular part of the RACGP Victoria Faculty calendar.

As an educator, she has spent many years sharing her expertise in the areas of young people's health and women's. She is a regular presenter to general practitioners and community groups on the areas of adolescent health, adolescent depression and suicide, bullying, dealing with teenage stress and anger, parent-child conflict. She has published many books on adolescent health and parenting.

A/Prof Rowe has made a significant contribution to the health of Victoria's Aboriginal community. She worked closely with the young Kooris of the Wathaurong Community in the Geelong area (her local community), which culminated in the groundbreaking book URGENT which was won the 2004 AMA Youth Health Award.

In the last few years, A/Prof Rowe has demonstrated her commitment to the safety of general practice and general practice staff in her role in raising the profile of GP safety issues in light of the tragic murder of Melbourne general practitioner and RACGP Fellow Dr Khulod Maarouf-Hassan.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is responsible for maintaining standards for quality clinical practice, education and training, and research in Australian general practice. The RACGP has the largest general practitioner membership of any medical organisation in Australia and represents the majority of Australia's general practitioners.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners