Royal Society of Medicine welcomes six new honorary fellows

Six leading figures became honorary fellows of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) yesterday evening (23 July 2024), in recognition of their contributions to health, healthcare or medicine.

The Society bestowed the honour upon Baron Adebowale CBE, Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, Major General Timothy Hodgetts CB, Professor Martin McKee CBE, Professor Dame Robina Shah and Professor Irene Tracey CBE.

Baron Adebowale is the former Chief Executive of the social care enterprise Turning Point and the current Chair of the NHS Confederation, and was one of the first individuals to become a People's Peer.

Accepting his fellowship, Baron Adebowale said: “The health and care system is going to need all of you … I invite you all not to hang on to the things you know but to be curious about the things you need to know. Because the NHS is all of us.”

The second recipient was Professor Baron-Cohen, a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College.

Professor Baron-Cohen said: “Although I’m receiving this honour, I’m really here because of the work of the team of researchers at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge. I want to thank them for all their hard work into both basic science into trying to understand the cause of autism but also applied research to evaluate what kinds of support might help autistic people and their families.”

Major General Timothy Hodgetts CB is a senior British Army officer and medical doctor, who has served as Surgeon General of the United Kingdom Armed Forces since 2021. He said: “Reading about the values of the Royal Society of Medicine, I can see that they very much chime with how I view my continued purpose: to spread education, to promote ideas on best practice and organisation within medicine and to both inspire and support the next generation to tackle strategic challenges that we face in our profession.”

Next up was Professor McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He said: “The wealth of expertise brought together in this room and under this roof is quite remarkable. But of course the RSM takes us beyond clinical matters to reflect on medicine’s place in society. The [COVID-19] sessions that Simon and Roger ran during the pandemic, with a remarkable array of participants, were simply outstanding.”

British psychologist Professor Shah is an expert in patient care and has partnered with UK medical schools to create patient centred education. She said: “I never expected to receive such a prestigious accolade and I’m really excited to participate further in the activities of the RSM.

“The truth is that often we are unseen but that does not deter us, we still continue with determination to make change happen. It really is important just to remember to promote others, to say thank you, to share kindness and to promote the humility that you receive from others.”

The final recipient was pain medicine academic Professor Tracey, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and former Warden of Merton College, Oxford. She said: “This is a place that I have come to many times to give lectures. It has been an extraordinary institution that has been really fantastic in championing the field of pain.

“It means an awful lot to me to be here.”

The honorary fellowships were granted at a ceremony at the RSM’s central London home, which also saw the inauguration of Professor Gillian Leng CBE as RSM president.