The Ian Hart Award for Innovation in Medical Education

Applications for the 2026 Award have now closed.

About the award

The Award recognises individuals who have made an exceptional contribution internationally to undergraduate, postgraduate and/or continuing medical education.

Who should enter

The award winner will have demonstrated the creativity, diligence, agility and leadership necessary to significantly advance the field of medical/health professions education and is likely to be at mid-career level or later.

Whilst preference will be given to the advancement of assessment, contributions in other areas of medical/health professions education will also be considered, including curriculum planning and teaching and learning.

Particularly important is the ability to demonstrate sharing and communicating, which were major features of Ian’s work.

The award and proposed timeframe

Individuals working in the field of medical and health professions education may both nominate and be nominated. Self-nomination is also accepted.

One award is made biennially. The awardee will receive US$4,000 and free registration to the AMEE Conference 2026 featuring the Integrated Ottawa Event.

  • Submissions closed on 31 January 2026
  • The award recipient will be notified by 10 April 2026

Nomination process

The nomination application should be completed, via the Oxford Abstracts website, by the person being nominated for the Award. 

In addition the following are required:

  1. A CV of no more than 1,000 words highlighting the nominee’s career in health professions education;
  2. A letter from the person nominating which should outline the nominee’s contributions to medical/health professions education, and why they believe the nominee merits the Ian Hart Award. The nominator may be a supervisor or other person familiar with the nominee’s work. The letter may either be sent together with the application and CV via the Oxford Abstracts website or may be emailed separately by the person nominating to awards@amee.org (not applicable for self-nominations)

Ian Hart

The Ian Hart Award for Innovation in Medical Education is made in memory of the late Ian Ritchie Hart, who was a leader in medical education with an international reputation.

He made a significant contribution to advancing medical education in Canada, including founding the Canadian Association for Medical Education (CAME). He also played a major role internationally in advancing approaches to the training of doctors.

Ian worked closely with AMEE and in 1999 was instrumental in the creation of the Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) Collaboration, which has developed into a key initiative in the promotion of evidence-based education in the healthcare professions.

In Malaysia he played a major role in the establishment of the International Medical University, a forward-looking approach to medical education where students complete the first part of their training in Malaysia before transferring to one of a number of partner schools around the world to complete their training.

In all of these initiatives and in his other work in medical education, Ian had a quiet authority and understated presence that led people with whom he was dealing to hold him in high respect.

Ian travelled widely across the globe and emphasised the importance of networking and sharing ideas and resources for the development of medical education worldwide.

The Award has been made possible through the support of the Hart family and AMEE.