Division of Surgery reflects on student success in 2024

There are too many individuals to mention, but some particularly notable achievements came from:

• Jason Kwok (iBSc Medical Sciences with Surgical Sciences) was awarded the Jackson Lewis Scholarship 2024 for outstanding academic performance in one year of study. 

• Dominic Pulford (MSc Musculoskeletal Science) was awarded the Scales Prize for his research project that investigated Cervical spine muscle loading associated with helicopter flight: a musculoskeletal modelling approach.

FMS Dean’s Research Prize Event 

DSIS students were also incredibly successful at the 12th Annual FMS Dean’s Research Prize event, resulting in 3 winners: 

• Urmi Shah (MSc Physical Therapy in Musculoskeletal Healthcare & Rehabilitation) won the Postgraduate Taught Poster Judges’ Choice Prize for “Electromyography Biofeedback for People with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review.” 

• Sara Bin Shalhoub (MSc Musculoskeletal Science) won the Postgraduate Taught Poster People’s Choice Prize for “Knowledge, Perceptions and Views of Occupational Therapists Towards the Use of Virtual Reality for the Management of Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Cross-Sectional Survey.” 

• Diya Paras Shah (iBSc Medical Sciences with Surgical Sciences) won the Undergraduate Poster People’s Choice prize for “Optimising Gelatin Methacrylate for Corneal Regeneration.” 

Divisional Annual Student Research Symposium 

The Annual Student Research Symposium, which took place on Friday 19th April, was another major success story of 2024. Students’ excellent research was celebrated and the audience heard brilliant presentations from undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research students, along with some inspiring advice on career trajectory from Dr Snehal Pinto-Pereira, and how to change the world with your research, from our Head of Research Prof Kurinchi Gurusamy.

This event has grown year after year, becoming a full-day event for the first time in 2024, with lively discussions over lunch & evening refreshments. The event was also live-streamed from the main UCL YouTube channel, which can be seen below, and some well-deserved awards were also handed out:

• Helen Newman was awarded Best Postgraduate Research Presentation for “Choosing the right tracheostomy tube for adults in ICU: size matters” 

• Margareth Ayu Caroline was awarded Best Postgraduate Taught Presentation for “Evaluating the utility of virtual reality for endoscopic spinal surgery: a proposed prospective cohort study”  

• Nifemi Akingboye was awarded Best Undergraduate Presentation for “How clinically relevant are breast cancer cell lines? A comprehensive multiomics comparison with clinical cohorts.”  

• Brigita De Vega was awarded the Best Individual Image.

• Sam Spears was awarded the Committee Choice Award for “3D printed bespoke neck collars for people living with MND with embedded sensors for real-time monitoring Committee” comments: Fantastically presented, impactful and clear! 

• Jingyu Lei was awarded the People’s Choice Award for best presentation for “A novel approach to treating bone death in the Jaw.”

Divisional Postgraduate Research Student Celebration Day 

The DSIS annual Postgraduate Celebration Day on 20th November 2024 in Bloomsbury. Two alumni from the Division, Dr Fraje Watson (now a Research Fellow at Imperial College London) and Dr Katerina Stamati (now a Lecturer at UCL) gave inspiring talks about their academic journey and how their time as PhD students at UCL helped them develop their professional profile. 

Meanwhile, PhD student Maria Florez Martin gave a presentation on our recently launched dynamic mentoring scheme for PGR students and Dr Darren Player gave an excellent talk on the use of AI in scientific research. The day culminated with an exhilarating Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, with the winner and runners-up all being nominated for the Faculty heats: 

• Evelyn Watson (winner)  

• Bow Chaipanichkul (runner-up)  

• Alexander Thomas (runner-up).   

Congratulations to all DSIS students and looking forward to another prosperous year in 2025! 

Further information

• Professor Tom Carlson’s academic profile
• FMS Dean’s Research Prize Event
• Division of Surgery & Interventional Science Student Research Symposium