Icon of the Year recognises sustained contribution to cardiovascular medicine over a career — clinical service, teaching, research, or the building of institutions that outlast the person who built them. Where Scholar of the Year looks at a single body of work, this award looks at a working life.

What the award recognises

  • Clinical service maintained at a high standard over decades, particularly where the conditions made it difficult.
  • Teaching whose effect is visible in the clinicians it produced.
  • Research that changed practice rather than accumulating citations.
  • Institution building — units, training programmes and services that continue to function independently of their founder.
  • Service to patients who had few other options, which the Academy weighs heavily and which conventional metrics capture poorly.

Eligibility

Any registered medical practitioner working in or adjacent to cardiovascular medicine, in any country, with a substantial career record. There is no minimum number of years, but the award is by its nature retrospective. Nominees need not be Academy members.

How the decision is made

The Awards and Recognition Committee, described on the committee page, reviews every nomination against the criteria above. Members recuse themselves where they have a personal or institutional relationship with a nominee. Where members of the wider Academy are invited to vote, the ballot informs the committee’s decision rather than replacing it — the current vote, when open, runs at the voting page.

This award cannot be bought. The Academy accepts no payment, sponsorship or advertising in connection with any award, and no fee is charged to nominate or to receive one. An institution that sells recognition has nothing left worth giving.

Nominating

Nominations are made by colleagues, trainees, institutions or professional bodies; self-nomination is not accepted for this award. Submit through the awards nomination page with the nominee’s name, degrees, position and institution, a career summary, and a statement of up to 800 words setting out the contribution and its effect, with corroborating detail wherever possible.

Recipients are presented at the annual meeting described on the events page, with a published citation and permanent recognition in the member directory. The full award programme is on the awards page.