Lucy Mair medal awarded

Dr Cecil Helman (UCL Primary Care & Population Sciences) was granted the award for his lifetime contribution to medical anthropology. It was given 'to recognise outstanding achievement in the application of anthropology to human wellbeing, with particular reference to the relief of poverty and suffering and the active recognition of human dignity', and follows on from the Career Achievement Award he received in 2004 from the American Anthropological Association, the most prestigious award from the other side of the Atlantic. The Lucy Mair Medal will be presented to Dr Helman in September 2005.

After completing a medical degree in South Africa, Dr Helman came to UCL to study social anthropology, a subject that had long fascinated him. But it wasn't until he went on a trip to the USA that he discovered that he could combine his two subjects of study through medical anthropology, a new and marginal discipline back in the early 1970s.

After a Fellowship to Harvard Medical School in 1984, he returned to the UCL to take up a position as Senior Lecturer in Primary Care. Since 1990 he has also been Professor of Medical Anthropology at Brunel University. While concurrently working part-time as a GP in north London, Dr Helman conducted research into the prevalence of the British folk belief 'feed a cold, starve a fever', the first of many research studies into lay beliefs about health and illness, both here and abroad.

Dr Helman went on to write 'Culture, Health and Illness' in 1984, a guide to culturally competent medical care which has become the standard international textbook on the subject, and is now in its fourth edition. Last year, he published an autobiography, 'Suburban Shaman: A Journey Through Medicine', which draws on his own experience and career to reflect on health and illness within the context of community, tradition and history. Originally published in South Africa, 'Suburban Shaman' will be released in the UK early in 2006, where it should meet with a readership for whom a more holistic, and culturally competent medical care has become increasingly relevant.

Since its quiet beginnings, medical anthropology has burgeoned in the UK, and is now a key component of many medical and nursing syllabi, and cultural competence is considered a crucial skill for modern healthcare professionals.

Not only is Britain becoming more socially and culturally diverse, but the types of health beliefs - and expectations - that people from every background hold are also becoming increasingly diverse. In dealing with this, Dr Helman explained that: "Medical anthropology isn't about stereotyping groups of people and their beliefs and behaviours - it's about understanding individuals, and the meanings that they give to their illness and suffering. It's important to always try to see illness from their point of view, and to understand the part it plays in their daily lives. Today, even within a small village community with little ethnic diversity, you'll find an increasing variety of beliefs about diet and disease causation, and individual's expectations of medical treatment are often very different from those of their doctors. We need a new type of doctor who can negotiate this new situation, and understand more clearly the patient's perspective."

Within UCL's Department of Primary Care & Population Sciences, Dr Helman runs a twice-yearly intensive course in Cross-Cultural Primary Care, intended to raise awareness of the social and cultural aspects of health, illness and the human life-cycle: from pregnancy and childbirth through to dying and bereavement. The course is open to all those working in health care, including doctors, nurses, health visitors, psychotherapists and voluntary sector workers.

Dr Helman adds: "To understand other people's health beliefs, it is important for health professionals to first understand themselves, and the beliefs, attitudes and prejudices that they bring to the medical encounter. The course examines these questions."

Links:

• Primary Care & Population Sciences
• Culture, Health and Illness