ABSTRACT

In 1982, John Alexander Reid Lawson was appointed president of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), a post he held until 1985. During this time, in 1984, he gave the Victor Johnston Memorial Oration to the Canadian College of General Practitioners. He also visited Australia, Finland, Kuwait and New Zealand on RCGP business. A defining act in Lawson’s career was his involvement in the ‘What Sort of Doctor’ initiative. Instigated by the Board of Censors in September 1980, it aimed to develop ‘a method of assessing the performance of general practitioners in the setting of their own practices’. This would become a salient theme at the RCGP throughout the 1980s. A number of awards were given to Lawson. He was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1967. Later, in 1979, he was appointed Order of the British Empire in recognition of his dedication and extensive contribution to general practice.