'Previously, the Army Surgeon had been entrusted officially merely with the care of the sick…..(now) he is ordered to advise commanding officers in all matters affecting the health of troops, whether as regards garrisons, stations, camps and barracks, or diet, clothing, drill, duties or exercises’

Edmund Alexander Parkes. Preface to: A manual of practical hygiene. (1864)

Following the Crimean War, the Army Medical School was created in 1860 with three professors of equal status: one of clinical and military medicine, one of clinical and military surgery, and one of sanitary science and military hygiene. Dr Edmund Alexander Parkes (elected FRS in 1861) was appointed as the first Professor of Military Hygiene. This was the first such appointment in Britain, and this innovation revolutionised the education of military medical personnel in preserving health and preventing disease. These are now the province of the two specialties of Occupational Medicine and Public Health. 

There has been a RAMC prize in his name since shortly after Parkes' death in 1876, and the military professorship of preventive medicine continues to be named after him.

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