Prof Mike English Awarded the 2012 Sir Rickard Christophers Medal

Prof Mike English of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme has been awarded the 2012 Sir Rickard Christophers Medal of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.   The medal, which is given every three years, recognizes the work of researchers in tropical medicine and hygiene and in particular for practical and field applications.

On receiving the medal Prof English said “I am delighted for the whole team that the work being done in Nairobi over the past 7-8 years deserves such recognition”

Also congratulating him on the award, the Programme’s Scientific Director, Prof Kevin Marsh, said “I am absolutely delighted that Mike is to receive the Sir Rickard Christophers medal- this is one of the most prestigious awards in the field and it recognizes the remarkable achievements of both Mike and his entire group”

Prof English, who also won the 2008 Royal Society of Tropical Medicines Chalmers Medal for his contribution to international health, has been working within the Child and Newborn Health group at the programme. This group has evolved into the Health Services Research Group (HSRG) with close collaborations with Kenya's Ministries of Public Health and Sanitation and Medical Services and the University of Nairobi (as part of the SIRCLE Collaboration). HSRG’s work includes developing national, evidence-based guidelines for care of severely ill children and newborns (www.idoc-africa.org), linked to the ETAT+ training programme, and long-term studies with a multidisciplinary team on initiating and establishing ‘best-practices' within rural government hospitals. HSRG is also developing work in the areas of health economics, human resources for health and evaluation of health service delivery / quality of care.

Besides his work at the Programme, Mike English is also a Professor in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK and an honorary lecturer at the University of Nairobi. He provides advice to the Kenyan government and works with WHO on a range of issues related to child and newborn survival.

The Sir Rickard Christophers medal commemorates the life and achievements of Sir Rickard Christophers, whose studies in malarialogy and the pathology, immununology, epidemiology and control of insect borne diseases made him a distinguished scientist. The last Sir Rickard Christophers medal was given in 2009 to Prof Malcom Molyneux, of the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme (MLW).