Grey’s Anatomy: Every Harper Award Winner

Grey’s Anatomy has built its own world, which includes a medical award called Harper Avery Award, and the show has only revealed six doctors who have gotten the award. The medical drama genre is one of the most popular ones in television, and it has housed some of the most successful TV shows in history. Among the most recent dramas is Grey’s Anatomy, created by Shonda Rhimes. Grey’s Anatomy has been going strong since its premiere in 2005. The series has been led by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who started as an intern at Seattle Grace Hospital and became the head of general surgery at the same hospital (now named Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital). The show has explored Meredith’s relationships with family and colleagues

Some of those family members and coworkers have been recipients of a prestigious medical award. The Harper Avery Award (now officially called Catherine Fox Award after the sexual assault allegations against Harper Avery) is given to surgeons who are already at the top of their field professionally, and it also serves to encourage them to push their skills even further. The $500,000 they are given is definitely a good incentive. It’s unknown how many total doctors have taken the Harper Avery Award home, but Grey’s Anatomy has revealed six doctors who have earned the award.

Ellis Grey

Meredith’s mother, Ellis Grey, was a world-famous surgeon and thus one of the most respected doctors in Grey’s Anatomy, even considered the best one of all. Ellis’ legacy is often mentioned among the characters of Grey’s Anatomy, and her contributions to medicine earned her the Harper Avery Award on two occasions.

First, Ellis was put on the shortlist for the award when she was still a surgical resident, and she took the award thanks to the “Grey Method”, an audacious laparoscopic technique to treat gallbladder, all this back in 1988. Her second win arrived years later and there was controversy around it due to the contributions of her then-friend Marie Cerone. This time, Ellis won the Harper Avery Award for the “Ellis Grey Procedure”, which was all about laparoscopic biliary reconstruction. Although Ellis and Cerone worked on it together, the former left the latter’s name out as she was blacklisted from winning a Harper Avery Award. The procedure is now known as the “Grey-Cerone Method”, finally acknowledging the contribution of Cerone.

Margaret Goodwin

Margaret Goodwin is the program director at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Goodwin was one of the program directors who tried to convince Meredith to join her general surgery program after Meredith completed her residency. Meredith had to cancel her interview three times as she attended to a patient, and Goodwin finally got to interview her for an attending position, but Meredith chose to stay at Seattle Grace Hospital. Goodwin won the Harper Avery Award in 1996 for excellence and innovation in surgery, but no more is known about her work.

Preston Burke

Preston Burke is one of the most controversial characters in Grey’s Anatomy due not only to the behind-the-scenes drama involving Isaiah Washington but also to his turbulent relationship with fan-favorite Cristina Yang. Burke is a cardiothoracic surgeon who was once engaged to Yang, but after realizing she wasn’t ready to commit, he left her at the altar. Burke left Seattle right after that, and some time later, he became one of the applicants for the Harper Avery Award, going against Erica Hahn, his longtime rival.

Burke became the recipient of the 2008 Harper Avery Award and, just like Ellis Grey did to Marie Cerone, he didn’t mention Yang in his article, even though she helped him recover from his hand injury and so was key in him being able to win the award. This was yet another emotional punch for Yang, who, to this day, hasn’t won a Harper Avery Award. After that, Burke founded the Klausman Institute for Medical Research in Zurich, Switzerland, and ended up giving his job there to Yang. The next known winner of the Harper Avery Award was Ronald Myers, in 2014, but there’s no information on his work.

Meredith Grey

The 2017 winner of the Harper Avery Award in Grey’s Anatomy is the one and only Meredith Grey. It isn’t too surprising that Meredith has already been awarded for her work, as she has not only contributed to medicine, but she has also shown a lot of empathy and heart when treating her patients (and with her colleagues, too), which makes her a worthy recipient of the award. Although Meredith has performed a number of surgeries and has made her research on different topics, what finally turned her into a Harper Avery Award recipient was the groundbreaking procedure she used to save Megan Hunt’s life.

Surgery on Megan went well until Meredith found out there wasn’t enough tissue left to close the wound, and once she calmed down, she came up with the idea of performing an abdominal wall transplant. The procedure was successful, Megan had a full recovery and returned to her son, and Meredith Grey landed the cover of the Journal of Surgical Advancement and the Harper Avery Award, by then already known as Catherine Fox Award.

Miranda Bailey

Miranda Bailey is one of only a few characters who has been a mainstay since the first season. A resident in the first few seasons, she showed great promise as a pediatric surgeon before pursuing a career as a general surgeon. Bailey has been the mentor of several interns and residents over the years who have also been nominated for the Harper Avery, like Christina Yang. Bailey even became the Chief of Surgery.

She finally receives the award herself in 2023 after it has been renamed to the Catherine Fox Award. What’s most interesting about Bailey receiving the award is that she isn’t initially in the list of nominees. Instead, she’s a surprise recipient at the award ceremony with the award being given due to her teaching other doctors how to perform life-saving reproductive care, including risky surgeries, at a time when many states were outlawing abortions. Bailey’s work is deemed necessary, and she’s given a standing ovation when she gets the surprise honor.

The long-running Grey’s Anatomy series will likely see more fan-favorite characters win the Harper Avery or Catherine Fox Award as the show continues, but it often skips multiple seasons before revealing recipients, so it could be a while before another winner is revealed.