Dr Kerry Hancock

A long-standing commitment to respiratory health has helped the Lung Foundation’s Dr Kerry Hancock scoop an honorary fellowship with the RACGP.

The Adelaide-based GP is chair of the RACGP’s Specific Interests Respiratory Medicine network, and has been involved in developing education and guidelines for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

She was one of three general practitioners to be announced recipients of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ Honorary Awards at the GP18 conference on the Gold Coast on the 13 October.

For more than two decades Dr Hancock, who co-owns a practice in Adelaide, has held multiple positions with various respiratory-focused professional groups.

She is currently chair of the Lung Foundation Australia’s GP Advisory Group, and serves as an executive member on the foundation’s National COPD Programme.

Dr Hancock recently served on the MBS Review Taskforce’s Thoracic Medicine Clinical Committee. Previously roles include board member of Asthma Foundation SA and chair of the National Asthma Australia Council’s GP Asthma Group.

Dr Hancock said she was surprised and moved to receive the accolades, telling newsGP: “We devote ourselves to our patients, our profession and our community without expecting reward, but I can tell you I was certainly not expecting this.”

The Lung Foundation sent congratulations on social media, tweeting: “Dr Hancock’s exemplary training of generations of medical students & general practice registrars over the past 30 years highlights her valuable role.”