Thomas C Chalmers MD

The Thomas C Chalmers MD Award has been given each year at the Cochrane Colloquium since 1994. From 2005, separate prizes are awarded for the best oral presentation and the best poster presentation at the Colloquium. All accepted posters and oral presentations will be eligible for the award if they address methodological issues related to systematic reviews and demonstrate originality of thought, high quality science, relevance for the advancement of the science of systematic reviews, and clarity of presentation.

The award honours the work of Thomas Clark Chalmers, an outspoken advocate of randomized trials and one of the most creative thinkers and investigators in the field. Always ahead of his time, in 1977 he advocated that in the face of uncertainty doctors should 'randomize the first patient!' At the same time he advocated registration of clinical trials and later was one of the first in medicine to do systematic reviews.

The recipient of each prize will receive a cheque for 500 US dollars and a certificate. If there is a tie within a category, the recipients will split the award.

Presentations will be judged by the Thomas C Chalmers MD Award Committee: Jenny Doust (Chair, Australia), Ruth Foxlee (UK), Tim Kenealy (New Zealand), Mariska Leeflang (Netherlands), Georgia Salanti (Greece), Ivan Solà (Spain), Prathap Tharyan (India) and Mingming Zhang (China).