GPs receive international recognition for contribution to general practice

6 December 2021

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners congratulates Professor Felicity Goodyear-Smith and Dr Jo Scott-Jones who have been awarded Fellowship of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA).

These Fellowships were awarded (virtually) to Prof Goodyear-Smith and Dr Scott-Jones at WONCA’s recent 23rd World Conference of Family Doctors and highlighted their outstanding contributions to the College of GPs and the discipline of general practice on a local and international scale.

College President Dr Samantha Murton says, "Prof Goodyear-Smith and Dr Scott-Jones are two very deserving recipients of WONCA Fellowship. Their contributions to general practice span clinical, research and teaching, and they truly epitomise the characteristics of a GP. I am thrilled they have been internationally recognised for their achievements." 

About Professor Goodyear-Smith

Prof Goodyear-Smith obtained College Fellowship in 1998 and in 2016 was awarded Distinguished Fellowship of the College.

She is a senior academic involved in teaching and research at the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care in the School of Population Heath at The University of Auckland and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the College’s peer-reviewed publication the Journal of Primary Health Care (JPHC).

Prof Goodyear-Smith has also worked in the UK, and in Jamaica. Whilst in Jamaica, she spent time working as a police medical officer as well as in obstetrics & gynaecology and family planning. Her expertise has been recognised with Fellowship in the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine at The Royal College of Physicians.

Prof Goodyear-Smith’s research interest areas include international primary health care, including cross-country comparisons in low- and middle-income countries, screening and intervention for mental health and risky lifestyle behaviours, immunisation, and co-design and Pacific methodologies. She has been very involved in WONCA, chairing their Working Party on Research, and has co-edited three books ( International Perspectives on Primary Care Research, How to do Primary Care Research, and How to do Primary Care Educational Research) on WONCA’s behalf.

About Dr Scott-Jones

Dr Scott-Jones obtained College Fellowship in 1999, and Fellowship of the Division of Rural Hospital Medicine in 2003. He was awarded the College’s Distinguished Service medal in 2007.

He is medical director for Pinnacle Midlands Health Network and has a GP practice in Ōpōtiki, and works as a GP across the Midlands region (which covers Gisborne, Taranaki, Rotorua, Taupō -Turangi, Thames-Coromandel and the Waikato).

One of the many successful initiatives developed and implemented by Dr Scott-Jones is ‘Rural Fest’. For the past six years, this annual cross-party event has brought together organisations in the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ) to discuss issues around health and wellbeing in rural communities. These issues are taken to Parliament where meetings are held with party caucus and individual politicians to highlight them.

The mission of WONCA is to improve the quality of life of the peoples of the world through defining and promoting its values, including respect for universal human rights and including gender equity, and by fostering high standards of care in general practice/family medicine. Read more about the work of WONCA.