Is social prescribing the future for healthcare?
Watch back as this year's Albert Medal winners Lord Andrew Mawson and Sir Sam Everington on 20 September discuss social prescribing.
The Albert Medal
Albert Medal
Recognising creativity and innovation since 1864
The RSA Albert Medal is awarded annually to recognise innovations that contribute to a better world for people, place and planet. It was instituted in 1864 as a memorial to Prince Albert, a former President of the RSA.
Recipients range from world-renowned scientists and artists to social campaigners. They include:
- Alexander Graham Bell in 1902 for the invention of the telephone.
- Marie Curie in 1910 for the discovery of radium.
- Stephen Hawking in 1999 for improving public awareness of physics.
- Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert DBE in 2021 for her role as the Oxford Project Leader for ChAdOx1 nCov-19, a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
Read about 2022's winners below.
2022 Albert Medal
The 2022 Albert Medal has been awarded to healthcare pioneers Lord Andrew Mawson and Professor Sir Sam Everington, in recognition of their role as pioneers of social prescribing to combat isolation, improve public health and support full participation in society.
Andrew is a social entrepreneur who has been innovating, disrupting and creating for over 35 years. Sam has been a GP in Tower Hamlets since 1989 in the Bromley by Bow Partnership that they co-founded. The social prescribing delivered at the centre is now part of a network of thousands across the country.
They have been awarded the medal in recognition of their outstanding, inclusive and impactful innovations that are purposefully creating a better world than the one they inherited.
From its origins in East London, and thanks to the continuing efforts of its early pioneers, Everington and Mawson, social prescribing is now making a difference to patients in the UK as well as spreading globally to Finland, South Korea, and Australia and elsewhere. Sam and Andrew’s innovative and inspiring work speaks to the very best of the Albert Medal’s traditions. They are worthy winners.
As part of The RSA’s ongoing journey to adopt more inclusive and equitable practices, we have this year launched a semi-open nomination and review process. We invited a group of nomination and review panellists across The RSA Community of colleagues, fellows, partners, Royal Designers for Industry, Student Design Awards Alumni and Catalyst Award winners to nominate potential candidates and to select the recipient.
The Albert Medal will be presented later this year, please keep an eye out for further announcements.
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Past Albert Medal winners
Winners since 1864 have included Michael Faraday, Marie Curie, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Professor Stephen Hawking, Baroness Mary Warnock and Sir Tim Berners-Lee.