The Giles Medal for Research Excellence has been established by the Australian Chiropractors Association (ACA) as its most prestigious international award for scientific research. The medal itself has been designed by an internationally renowned sculptor and medal artist to reflect the esteem of the award.
The award has been named in recognition of Dr Lynton Giles, an inaugural member of the Research Committee of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) and the first chiropractor in Australia to be awarded a PhD. Dr Giles went on to publish a significant body of scientific peer reviewed basic and clinical science research concerning the spine and a strong advocate for scientific investigation of chiropractic theories and clinical procedures.
The purpose of the Giles Medal was to establish an international chiropractic research award that acknowledges and recognises researchers with a sustained track record of excellence in scientific research of relevance to the practice of chiropractic. The medal may therefore be awarded to any person, from any health discipline, based anywhere in the world who has published a body of scientific peer reviewed research of relevance to healthcare and the practice of chiropractic.
This would normally be evidenced by a body of published scientific peer-reviewed research that has had a significant impact on:
- our understanding of mechanisms that enable good health, or
- the reliability and validity of patient assessment or
- the reliability and validity of treatment and management provided to patients.
A strict nomination protocol and rigorous selection process is in place which includes the Giles Medal Scientific Advisory Committee (GMSAC), an independent committee chaired by the chair of the WFC Research Council.
The medal recipient for any given year will be announced publically in August of that year and the Medal will normally be presented to the recipient at the ACA Conference usually held in October of the same year. The ACA encourages chiropractors to consider providing nominations for this prestigious international research award.
Giles Medal Recipients
2019
Prof Christopher Maher
Professor Maher is a Professor in the School of Public Health, The University of Sydney and Director of the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, Sydney Local Health District. He is also ranked as the world’s most productive researcher concerning low back pain and is listed as the number one ranked expert concerning back pain worldwide. Professor Maher has had a total of 14,758 citations and 13,384 without self-citation spanning over 580 publications.
2018
Prof Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde
Professor Leboeuf-Yde is a Professor in Clinical Biomechanics at the Institute of Regional Health Research, University of Southern Denmark. Since commencing her research career Professor Lebouef-Yde has published more than 174 papers in internationally recognised scientific peer reviewed journals. Her work has focused on musculoskeletal disorders from a public health and epidemiological perspective.
2017
Dr John David Cassidy
Dr Cassidy is Professor of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto in Canada. His initial research examined the basic mechanisms involved in back pain and the efficacy of spinal manipulation. Over the subsequent 30 years he has published over 250 articles which are identifiable in the US National Library of Medicine records (PubMed) with over 200 articles published in scientific peer reviewed journals of the highest international standing.
2015
Dr Lynton Giles
Dr Giles, Australia’s first chiropractic PhD, was awarded the inaugural Giles Medal for outstanding research in Health Sciences, in recognition of his illustrious and trail blazing research career including being honorary clinical scientist at Townsville general hospital; having written 52 research publications within international research journals; and three book publications to his name.