Professor Helen Lester (1961-2013)

Award fund

The Helen Lester prize is funded by Helen’s family, friends and colleagues and is in memory of her and of her unique contribution to medicine. The prize will be awarded annually to a UoB student on a clinical course[1] who submits a piece of academic work which shows insight and originality in relation to the impact of health inequalities; adverse mental health; homelessness; and quality outcomes or a combination of the above, on the health of individuals or populations or on health policy. The submission may come directly from the student or from an academic supervisor (with the student’s permission) and can either be a piece of already submitted work (e.g. an essay or thesis) or a specially written piece (maximum length 3000 words). Submissions should have been written in the 12 months preceding the submission, should be received by 1st of May each year, and will be marked by a panel convened by the Head of Department of Primary Care or other appropriate persons designated by the Dean of the medical school. 

 

 

NB: If no submission is of sufficient quality the prize will not be awarded.

 

Helen Lester was an inspirational academic and doctor. She graduated from the University Of Wales College Of Medicine in 1985 completing her GP training in 1989.  For one year she worked as a registrar in Psychiatry and then, in 1991, moved to Birmingham to become a part time GP partner in an inner-city practice.  By 1993 she was already contributing as an academic at Birmingham, a career which culminated in the award of a Chair in 2006.

Helen won several awards for her work including the South Glamorgan Syntex award for her GP trainee research project, the South Wales/South England Merck Research prize, the John Fry Award, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Presidents medal (2012).  Helen’s professional qualifications and awards were many MB BCh, DRCOG, DCH, MRCGP (distinction) MD, MA, FRCGP, RCGP/Boots research paper of the year award, Robert C Wells prize for General Practice, Sam Davis Prize for General Practice, and was given the honour of delivering the RCGP Mackenzie lecturer in November 2012.   Helen moved to the NPCRDC at the University of Manchester in 2008 where she continued her work on mental health and inequalities and she returned to UoB in 2011. Helen’s grant income since 2006 was in excess of £16.6m, and she was chair of the RCGP CIRC and Chair of SAPC only relinquishing these roles very late in 2012. Helen published numerous papers in high profile journals. Together with her exceptional clinical and academic achievements Helen believed that her biggest achievement was raising her 3 children (with her husband Huw to whom she was devoted) and despite her hard work she ensured the family always spent time doing activities together.  Helen first became ill with breast cancer in 2004 which eventually took her life at the age of just 51 on 2 March 2013. 

 

Helen Lester’s research interests focused on the areas of quality improvement, health inequalities, the development of primary care mental health and the interactions between research, policy and clinical practice. Helen considered that the most significant element of her work was in linking policy, research and practice in the development of the Quality and Outcomes Framework in primary care.   Her early research focused on aspects of Primary Care for people who were homeless, and she added to the evidence base of primary care mental health through the pursuit of successful high quality multi-method research studies, and contributed to a series of national policy making bodies including the RCGP and DH that aim to improve the structure, process and outcomes of mental health delivery in the UK.  Much of her research directly influenced policy makers both in the UK and across the world and led to changes in the way in which services are conceptualised and delivered.  Helen also had a particular interest in promoting and enabling user involvement in primary care and mental health particularly for ‘hard to reach’ groups such as people with serious enduring mental illness.