Medical academics need support as “UK’s intellectual future,” says BMA

Abstract

Medical academics face potentially difficult times and need support, as they are vital to the “UK’s intellectual and financial future,” the BMA president has said. Ilora Finlay said, “The whole welfare of the NHS and health provision depends on academic enterprise. No one should underestimate the importance of medical academics.” Finlay, a past president of the Royal Society of Medicine and currently president of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, spoke at the BMA’s conference of medical academic representatives (COMAR) in London on 15 May. She said that UK research was outstanding and that the country punched “way above its weight” in terms of innovation and papers published in peer reviewed journals. “What we’re not that good at, though some universities are now getting good at it, is …