Beit Memorial Fellowships for Medical Research

Abstract

AT the annual meeting held on July 11 of the Trustees of the Beit Memorial Fellowships for Medical Research, an important change of policy was announced. The Trustees have decided to institute a professorial fellowship of tenure similar to that of a university chair. No award has yet been made. This action is the result of a proviso in the original trust deed, whereby the trustees are empowered, after the expiration of twenty years, to modify the regulations for the award of fellowships. When the Beit Memorial Trust was created, the opportunities for medical research in Great Britain were scanty Sir Otto Beits gift, followed by Lord Iveaghs benefaction for the building of the Lister Institute, enormously improved the situation. Then came further openings through the Medical Research Committee and its successor, the Medical Research Council. The late Sir Walter Morley Fletcher now became the dominant figure in the development of medical research, and the obituary notice of him which appeared in our issue of July 1 (p. 17) is the story of its progress. The policy of the Beit trustees has been to provide opportunities for junior workers, many of whom have passed into posts, such as chairs of physiology and pathology, where their research work could be continued. Prolonged clinical research has, however, not been provided for. The Medical Research Council has maintained a senior post for clinical research since 1916, the holder of which, Sir Thomas Lewis, has made noteworthy contributions to knowledge. This post has recently been endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Medical Research Council has created another. Now the Beit trustees are adding a third post, to be held at a medical centre in Great Britain where facilities for clinical research are available.