The Clare Marx Prize is awarded to the medical student delivering the best clinical paper at the annual meeting of the SRS. The student reading the paper must be the principal researcher and first author of the presented work. The prize consists of a certificate and a monetary award. The Clare Marx Prize was established in 2024.
Dame Clare Marx DBE DL FRCS (1954–2022) was an orthopaedic surgeon who was the first woman to become president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (2014–2017) in its more than 200-year history. She was also the first female chair of the General Medical Council (2019–2021). Clare Marx achieved more firsts for women in surgery than anyone in history. In addition to the above, she was the first woman to become a trainee in trauma and orthopaedics (1981), a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon (1990) and president of the British Orthopaedic Society (2008). She was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital, London, in 1990. In 1993 she moved to Suffolk to work at Ipswich Hospital where she became clinical director. She was known for her advocacy of women in surgery and established the Emerging Women Leaders Group at the Royal College of Surgeons. She had a gift for communication and was known for her compassionate leadership. She was also a renowned surgical teacher and trainer. In 2008 she was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk and in 2018 was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to surgery.