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Professor Tom Meade Wins The Second MRC Millennium Medal For Outstanding Contribution To Uk Health
July 23, 2002Professor Tom Meade, epidemiologist, visionary researcher and clinician, will be awarded the Medical Research Council's second Millennium Medal for outstanding contribution to UK health this evening (Tuesday 23 July 2002).
Professor Meade's work on coagulation overturned conventional wisdom about the systems in the body which contribute to coronary heart disease, paving the way for some landmark discoveries. He has helped change the face of modern medicine for millions of people who receive routine care for coronary heart disease, hypertension, back pain, incontinence, thrombosis, strokes and during pregnancy.
Professor Meade and the MRC Epidemiology and Medical Care Unit he directed from 1970 to 2001 have made a major contribution to improved healthcare. The Unit's own research teams and the collaborations formed with colleagues in other institutions and organisations have had an enormous impact on health, particularly in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
In the 1970s his Unit led a Working Party trial which showed treatment of hypertension (mild high blood pressure), reduced strokes and heart attacks. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Unit`s trial of combined low dose aspirin and low dose warfarin proved the effectiveness of this treatment in reducing first heart attacks in men. Most importantly the combination saved lives by reducing fatal attacks. This work revolutionised the approach to treating these events by challenging firmly held scientific opinion that aspirin and warfarin should not be used together. It has confirmed the value and greater safety of lower doses of both and has helped to encourage lower doses of warfarin in other conditions as well as in reducing heart attacks.
The success of the early hypertension trials was possible because of help from a GP practice. Once the potential for directly involving GPs and patients in research affecting day to day patient care was realised, the vision of a nationwide network of practices took shape. Under Professor Meade's directorship this ideal was nurtured and strengthened to create an infrastructure for large-scale population studies and trials crucial to modern epidemiology.
The MRC's General Practice Research Framework (GPRF) now consists of over 1000 GP practices across the UK. The GPRF assists researchers in conducting large scale, gold standard clinical trials that ultimately lead to the best possible treatments becoming standard care on the NHS. Together, patient populations, GPs and scientists tackle research questions in the most efficient way.
More recently Professor Meade was chair of the Protocol Development Group for the joint MRC, Wellcome Trust, Department of Health UK biobank project. This will take epidemiology into the 21st century by combining information about lifestyle, genetics and environment to better understand illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's.
His achievements will be celebrated this evening with the presentation of a specially minted silver medal, followed by the Millennium Medal Lecture before an invited audience at the Royal College of Physicians.
Professor Meade's lecture, 'Yesterday's Heroes:Today's Legacy', will pay tribute to the pioneering work of some of the country's leading researchers over the last 50 years. They have all influenced his life and work in some way, many of them he worked with directly before and during his time as Director of the MRC Epidemiology and Medical Care Unit.
Sir Anthony Cleaver, MRC Chairman, will present the medal. He said: "I'm delighted to present the 2002 Millennium Medal to Tom on behalf of the Council. There are no doubts that the extraordinary body of work Tom has generated is a very important legacy to medicine and health. He is himself truly a hero for today whose work is already changing peoples lives."
Sir George Radda, Chief Executive of the MRC, will preface the presentation with an appreciation of Professor Meade's life and works. He said: "Tom is recognised, here and abroad, as one of the country's leading clinicians and epidemiologists, and to his peers is a visionary who tackled the unglamorous, everyday problems of life head on.
"All who know him agree that his tenacity for undertaking good research in areas, which for many years were thought impossible to investigate in any conclusive way, has led to real progress in improving health. His attention to tackling such problems has balanced health needs with cost effectiveness for the NHS.
"Countless people who routinely get the most up to date care for devastating, debilitating and life threatening conditions can thank Tom for his vision."
ENDS
Medical Research Council
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