J.H. MacDermot Prize

The British Columbia Medical Journal welcomes article submissions from student authors, and each year awards a prize of $1000 for the best article written by a medical student in the province of British Columbia. View the MacDermot Prize terms of reference here.

Through the yearly presentation of the prize, the Journal hopes to encourage medical students to experience the challenges and rewards of medical publishing, to enrich the content of the Journal, and to seed the next generation of authors.

The prize honors John Henry MacDermot (1883–1969), who became the editor of the Vancouver Medical Bulletin at its formation in 1924. Dr MacDermot, who would spend 34 years as editor, oversaw the transition from the Bulletin to the BC Medical Journal in 1959, and stayed with the journal for nine more years, until 1967.

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Dr John H. MacDermot: Biography

Dr John H. MacDermot was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He completed his high school education in Kingston and enrolled in medical school at McGill University in 1901. He graduated from McGill in 1905 and was licensed to practice in British Columbia in 1906.

After practicing for short periods around BC, Dr MacDermot settled in Vancouver in 1909, running his private practice until his retirement in 1958.

During the First World War he held the rank of Captain in the Canadian Army Medical Corps, seeing service in Canada (1915–1919).

Dr MacDermot was a keen student of the history of medicine in BC. He conducted exhaustive research on numerous aspects of the subject in preparation for the publication of a book called History of Medicine in BC. Unfortunately Dr MacDermot passed away before completing the book, and his work was never published.

In addition to his lengthy tenure as editor of the VMA Bulletin and the BC Medical Journal, Dr MacDermot served the medical community in several other capacities. He was president of the VMA in 1916, and president of the BCMA in 1926. He was a senior or honorary life member of several medical organizations including the CMA, College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the VMA; who honored him with the title of Prince of Good Fellows and Osler Lecturer.

Past winners

2010
Dr Daniel Malebranche
Lost in translation

2009
Dr Derry Dance
Removal of ear canal foreign bodies: What can go wrong and when to refer

2008
Nathan Hoag and Ross Davidson
Prostate cancer screening practices and attitudes among primary care physicians in Victoria, British Columbia

2007
Mark Fok
Work hours, sleep deprivation, and fatigue: A British Columbia snapshot

2006
Maia Love
Tools for addictions care: A community learning perspective

2003
Dr Daniel Lin
Initial psychiatric assessment: A practical guide to the clinical interview

2001
Robert Colistro
Medical education: Beyond Flexnerian reform