Online Student Wins Prestigious Elizabeth Molyneux Prize
One of our recent graduates, Angharad, recently won the Elizabeth Molyneux (Paediatrics) prize for her final year work on the MSc Paediatric Emergency Medicine.
Angharad's dissertation work
Angharad Griffiths is a recent graduate of the MSc in Paediatric Emergency Medicine. She studied the utility of routinely requesting a set of x-rays without considering the utility and impact in children with ventriculo-peritoneal shunts.
These shunts drain excess fluid off the brain in children without the natural capacity to do so. These shunts can go wrong frequently and consequently she questioned whether a routine set of x-rays was helpful when newer ways of imaging are available.
Angharad's reaction to winning the prize
The presentation I submitted was based on my work from the final year of the MSc in Paediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) in which I was thrilled to have been awarded a distinction.
I'm pleased because it reflects an accumulation of hard work. I’m a Paediatrician with a special interest in PEM; so to be acknowledged by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine on a national platform is great, especially when there was such a high standard evidenced in other submissions.
It’s one of many projects I’ve undertaken (as is the story with many junior Doctors!); and these are almost always done in our own time. Often you stare at something for so long you don’t necessarily realise the quality, or the significance of a project. This is why I’m very thankful to Dr Tom Beattie. His encouragement and attention to detail have been invaluable.
I would also like to thank the whole faculty who work on the PEM MSc at Edinburgh. I would wholeheartedly encourage anyone interested in PEM to consider the Certificate, Diploma or Masters programmes.
The Elizabeth Molyneux Prize
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine holds a conference each year with a prize-giving session. There is a paediatric section and her abstract was selected from all paediatric abstracts to be presented for the prize session.
This selection is based on the merit of the abstract alone and she did not apply for it.
The prize is named after Dr Elizabeth Molyneux, who spent many years delivering child health care, especially emergency health care, in Malawi, before returning for several years to develop paediatric emergency care in Merseyside.
She then returned to spend her final clinical years in Malawi. Elizabeth was a truly good person and the prize is awarded in her name to the best presentation at the paediatric session.
Angharad was in competition with work from all over the UK, with submissions also coming in from Europe and around the world.
Related Links
What is Paediatric Emergency Medicine?