The Dean’s Prize for Clinicians - 2018 award winners

08 Feb 2018

Details of the winners Dr Varinder Athwal and Dr Robert Metcalfe

The Dean's Prize is an FBMH-run programme offering funding for both clinical and non-clinical researchers who are looking to apply for externally funded, prestigious fellowships. The awards comprise:

The Dean's Prize: Early Career Researcher Development Award available to non-clinical researchers with three to seven years of postdoctoral experience and are looking to apply for intermediate level fellowships

The Dean’s Prize for Clinicians a fellowship scheme with the goal of preparing excellent candidates for clinical intermediate or senior fellowships from UK national funding bodies. The award will buy-out the time of the researcher, so they can focus their efforts on getting their application to external funders to the highest, competitive standard

We’re now delighted to announce the two latest recipients of the Dean’s Prize for Clinicians.

Dr Varinder Athwal, a Consultant Herpetologist at Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, was awarded the prize to support his research into Cystic Fibrosis-related liver disease.

Working between the Faculty and the Trust, Dr Athwal will spend the majority of his time on his ground-breaking research, and this latest award builds on his previous successful research applications including:

• An MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship to gain his PhD
• NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer to allow continued time for clinical research
• FMHS Fellowship Academy International Scholars Programme Award, which provided funding for a six month clinical and research visit to Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, working for Prof Scott Friedman, a pioneer in liver research

Dr Robert Metcalfe is our second award winner. Rob is a Consultant in Medical Oncology and Honorary Senior Research Fellow working between the Experimental Cancer Medicine Team - Head and Neck Cancer, The Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust NHS and the Faculty.

His research project that will be supported by the Dean’s Prize is: The role of MYB/NFIB gene fusion in switching off immune surveillance and switching on metastasis in MYB rearranged salivary gland cancer. Rob’s award follows on from his successful MCRC award last year, which was also supported by a consumables award from The Dean's Prize.

Many congratulations to Varinder and Rob on their awards.

Details of the Dean’s Prize Awards can be found on the Faculty Intranet HERE.