The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) is pleased to announce that Lesley J. Southgate, DBE, DSc, FRCP, FRCGP, FMed Sci was selected as the recipient of the 2008 John P. Hubbard Award. The award is given to individuals who have made significant contributions to the pursuit of excellence in the assessment of professional competency and educational program development at any level along the continuum of medical education and delivery of health care. Bennett L. Leventhal, MD, chair of the 2008 Hubbard Award Committee, announced Dame Lesley's selection at the Annual Meeting of the National Board on March 27, 2008.
In presenting the award, Dr. Leventhal stated: "Dame Lesley Southgate has made exceptional contributions in fostering the development of procedures to evaluate the practice of medicine. Professor Southgate's longstanding involvement in assessment, outstanding leadership skills, and extraordinary vision have led to phenomenal success in implementing performance-based assessment of physicians, in her own country (the United Kingdom) and beyond. A central theme in her accomplishments is the development of authentic, high fidelity and rigorous assessment methods that can be directly applied in work-based settings. Her work in this area has had a huge impact on the organization of assessment in medicine, particularly of practicing physicians, in the United Kingdom and internationally. Professor Southgate led the team that developed, tested and brought into mainline operational use the suite of instruments that are now known internationally as the performance procedures.
“Regarded as an international expert in the application of assessment strategies, Professor Southgate's achievements are represented by her development of the performance-based assessment in the workplace. She has devoted enormous energy to establishing innovative approaches to teaching and assessing communication and clinical skills. Professor Southgate's work has focused consistently on improving assessment of clinical skills and it has covered the continuum of education, beginning with medical students through practicing physicians. Developing techniques to assess clinical skills, she has worked consistently to disseminate these techniques throughout the United Kingdom, in Russia and much of Europe.”
“Professor Southgate has an outstanding record of fostering the development of evaluation methods and measurement techniques, making personal contributions to improvement of assessment methodology, and contributing to assessment methodology research. In short, Professor Southgate's work has had an impact on the entire profession because it resulted in a change in the medical act and the methods used to assess the performance of doctors in the United Kingdom. The techniques - both peer review and tests of clinical competence - are used in Europe and have been adapted to certain sites in the United States.”
“The selection of Professor Southgate to receive this award is a well-deserved personal tribute that recognizes her outstanding abilities and longstanding dedication. In making its selection, the 2008 Hubbard Award Committee noted Professor Southgate's determination to assure the quality of the clinicians actually in practice in the United Kingdom and her exceptional success in improving the quality of evaluation in her country and internationally. Professor Southgate is described as a compelling teacher and mentor. She is said to be generous in sharing her time and contributions to assessment with others. Quoting colleagues, '[Professor Southgate] holds all of us to the same high standards she expects of herself. [She] can be counted on to raise the uncomfortable question [and] to identify the elephant in the room as a means of forcing all of us to continue moving forward in new areas of assessment and education about clinical skills. Her work, her writings, her numerous presentations all embody her commitment to advancing assessment and helping those of us who lack her vision to continue probing for approaches to assessment.”
Professor Dame Lesley Southgate is Professor of Medical Education at St George's Hospital Medical School, London, United Kingdom. She is a general practitioner and was active in patient care until she became President of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 2000. From 1996-2004 she led the President's programme to develop and implement the assessment methods for performance procedures for the General Medical Council, which registers doctors to practice medicine in the United Kingdom. She was a member of the Postgraduate Medical Education Training Board to November 2006, where she chaired the Statutory Committee on Assessment and its subcommittee on examinations in postgraduate training. She is known internationally and nationally for her work on the assessment of competence and performance of physicians. In 1999, she was named Dame Commander of the British Empire, Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to primary care and standards in medicine.
The National Board established the John P. Hubbard Award in 1983 in special tribute to the late John P. Hubbard, MD. Honoring Dr. Hubbard as a principal, guiding force of the NBME, this award acknowledges his creative and inspired leadership of the organization during his 25-year tenure as its chief executive. Professor Dame Lesley Southgate deservedly joins the ranks of the distinguished individuals whom the NBME has honored over the years with this prestigious award.
Professor Southgate's selection as the recipient followed a call for nominations published widely in the spring of 2007. The 2008 Hubbard Award Committee, chaired by Bennett L. Leventhal, MD, included as members Lynn M. Cleary, MD, Ruth-Marie E. Fincher, MD, Glenn Regehr, PhD, Carol Morrison, PhD, and Stephen I. Schabel, MD.
Posted March 27, 2008