Editorials

Family Medicine Researcher of the Year 2003

Moira Stewart

This editorial celebrates the first Family Medicine Researcher of the Year. The Section of Researchers of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) initiated this award to honour a family medicine researcher who has been a pivotal force in the definition, development, and dissemination of concepts c aentral to the discipline and who has made original contributions to research and knowledge in family medicine. The award will be given annually; the recipient will be chosen by the Section of Researchers Executive and an international selection committee. The 2003 Family Medicine Researcher of the Year is Dr Ian R. McWhinney, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) in London.

Dr McWhinney has mentored several generations of researchers, not only at UWO, but also across Canada. Students have been inspired by his vision of family medicine research and by Dr McWhinney as a role model.

Dr McWhinney has made at least three important intellectual contributions to research over the course of his career. The first was his emphasis on the part of medicine that only family medicine research can illuminate: the early signs of illness.

The second was a unique concept of family medicine: following patients over time. This was illustrated by the Headache Study Group, a network of family physicians who conducted a seminal study of headache patients over 1 year. Dr McWhinney’s current emphasis, and the topic of three recent keynote speeches, is clinical research that uses the observations of family physicians over time to make new discoveries about conditions and treatments. He advocates for “discovery research” in family medicine.

Dr McWhinney’s third contribution was the investigation of “deeper diagnosis.” The research program built on these concepts has led to important papers on patients’ experience of illness and the patient-centred clinical method.

Part of Dr McWhinney’s acceptance speech for the 2003 Family Medicine Researcher of the Year award is reproduced below.

Dr Stewart is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario in London and is Director of the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine and the Thames Valley Family Practice Research Unit.