As the College bids farewell to Dr Richard Medlicott, we thought we’d share a picture from one of his final duties as Medical Director – taken at our Fellowship Ceremony in Dunedin as part of the 2019 Conference for General Practice.

Richard has attended the last four Fellowship and Awards Ceremonies as Medical Director, but the most recent one was made even more memorable when his father, Dr Timothy Medlicott, walked across the stage to receive his Distinguished Fellowship, 10 years after retiring from general practice.

College Censor-in-Chief, Dr Peter Fleischl, described Distinguished Fellowship as an award for outstanding and sustained services to the work and aims of the College. He went on to read about Tim’s career in general practice. 

“Tim Medlicott was a leader of general practice in New Zealand for more than 38 years,” says Peter. 

“Tim was a driving force for innovation. He led the introduction of computers in general practice, and established the Mornington Health Centre, Dunedin Emergency Medical Team, and the Mornington PHO. 

“Tim has shown himself to be an outstanding GP and teacher. He trained the first GP registrar in Dunedin, going on to become an early regional programme director. 

“With this award we acknowledge the significant contributions Tim has made to the practice of medicine and the work and aims of the College,” Peter said.

This week Richard Medlicott has stepped down from the role of College Medical Director to pursue other goals. Part of the decision was the need to find more time during his busy week to get on his bike and train for The Pioneer – a six-day mountain biking race through the Southern Alps.

“I need to clock up about 15-20 hours a week between now and December to do this event well. To achieve this personal goal, I realised I’d have to adjust some of my professional commitments. 

“After three and a half years as Medical Director, which followed four previous years as Medical Director for Healthline, I felt like I’d done my time for now,” Richard said. 

Read more about Richard’s time as Medical Director.