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George Lewith Prize - 2026 Winner Announced

Congratulations to Shraddha Sriraman, from the University of Bristol, who has been named the recipient of the NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) George Lewith Prize for 2026.

George Lewith Prize - 2026 Winner Announced

Her paper, "A Systematic Review of Herbal Medicine Use in Type 2 Diabetes," explored the views, beliefs, and experiences of both patients and healthcare professionals regarding the use of herbal medicines in managing Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). T2DM is a major and growing global health concern, affecting approximately 1 in 11 people worldwide.

Upon learning of her win, she shared the following thoughts:

"I’m very excited and honoured to have received the George Lewith Prize for a systematic review exploring patient and clinician perspectives on the use of herbal medicines in diabetes care.

Research is built on the shoulders of giants, and this work would not have been possible without the pioneering contributions of Professor George Lewith in advancing the exploration of complementary therapy practices.
I would like to sincerely thank my mentors, Dr Merlin Willcox and Immaculate Okello, for their invaluable support and guidance throughout my research journey. I’m also deeply grateful to the NIHR SPCR team for reviewing my work and providing this valuable opportunity to gain recognition for an important area of research.
At the heart of this work is a simple but essential question: how do patients truly experience and feel about their treatment? Ensuring that patient voices are heard is fundamental to delivering meaningful, compassionate, and effective healthcare, and I’m proud to contribute to research that helps bring those perspectives to the forefront".

Highly Commended:

Our congratulations to the other highly commended essay entries by;

  • Hamaad Ahmad Khan (Mid & South Essex NHS Foundation Trust) - 'Views of Incoming Clinicians on End-of-Life Care (VOICE) Study and Implications for Academic General Practice in a Changing Legal Landscape'

  • Mohammed-Suhaib Amin (Keele University) - 'From referral to recall: a retrospective audit of DEXA scan follow up in general practice'

  • Daniel McAlea (The Queen's College, Oxford) - 'AI-enabled access and triage in UK general practice: results of a qualitative scoping study'

  • Leah Deacon (University of Nottingham) - 'Improving the Identification and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Primary Care: A Student‑Led Clinical Audit of CKD Coding Accuracy'.

About the George Lewith Prize:

The NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) holds an annual competition for undergraduate medical students in memory of the eminent clinician, academic and mentor Professor George Lewith. George Lewith was Professor of Primary Care at the University of Southampton, and SPCR training lead. George made remarkable contributions to academic primary care and in particular to research in the area of complementary medicine, as a training lead, mentor and supervisor.

The competition reach is beyond SPCR members and is open to all medical students from across the UK, providing winners with the opportunity to find out more about academic primary care and become involved in research.

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