Karen Conduit-Turner has been announced as the winner of the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Littlejohn Gairdner Prize 2026, for her work in relation to NHS Lanarkshire’s Anti-racism Plan (ARP).
Karen, who has completed her public health specialty training and began her GP training as GP ST1 Registrar in August, received a medal and cash prize at the awards ceremony, which was held at the FPH in London.
The award was introduced by Dorothy Hedderwick to commemorate the centenary of the appointment of her father, Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn, as Medical Officer for Edinburgh and his friend, Sir William Tennant Gairdner, as Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow.
This prize aims to celebrate outstanding contributions to public health in Scotland from early-career professionals.
Karen submitted a paper on NHS Lanarkshire’s response to Scottish Government guidance which requires NHS Boards to develop ARPs. This looked at the response mandate and persistent local inequities.
In her submission, Karen explained how she led on key elements of the ARP, from strategy development through early implementation, focusing on workforce equity, reducing barriers to services and accountable leadership.
Her contributions included creating an evidence-based call to action, developing a robust communications plan, coordinating actions across priority clinical areas (perinatal, mental health, diabetes, cardiovascular disease), embedding lived experience and public feedback, and establishing transparent evaluation and reporting mechanisms integrated with equality outcomes.
Karen said: “I was incredibly surprised and absolutely delighted to find out I had won the Littlejohn Gairdner award.
“I felt so proud of the anti-racism plan. It involved a lot of hard work from so many of the staff and services across Lanarkshire and I was blown away by the enthusiasm from colleagues to make this work. I hope it will help to highlight areas where we can improve things for staff and patients in Lanarkshire, but I also think it’s an opportunity to highlight where we’re doing things well.
“The development of anti-racism plans in all Scottish health boards is so important to me because we all know that racism in any form leads to worse outcomes for patients and it makes staff members feel like they aren’t valued or looked after in their workplace. This has huge public health implications. So to have a clear plan to tackle these issues and to gain trust from patient and NHS Lanarkshire employees is a vital part of the plan that I feel passionately about.
“I can’t wait to see how Lanarkshire takes this forward and was incredibly proud to be recognised for the small part I played in helping to form this plan.”
Karen was accompanied to London by Dr Albert Yeung, NHS Lanarkshire Consultant in Dental Public Health.
Albert (pictured with Karen) said: “I am delighted to see Karen Conduit-Turner recognised with the Faculty of Public Health’s Littlejohn Gairdner Prize for 2026. Karen is a very worthy recipient.
“Through her leadership of key elements of NHS Lanarkshire’s Anti-racism Plan, she has combined evidence-based public health practice with genuine engagement of staff, communities and partner organisations to help address inequalities and improve services.
“As Karen’s supervisor, I have been particularly impressed by her ability to influence across complex systems, translate policy into meaningful action and maintain a strong focus on improving outcomes for both patients and staff. This award is well deserved and reflects her commitment, professionalism and passion for public health.”
