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St David's Medical Foundation chosen for Lord Mayor's Charity Fund

The newly-inaugurated Lord Mayor of the City and County of Swansea, Councillor Alan Lloyd, has chosen the St David’s Medical Foundation as the chief beneficiary of his Mayoral Charity Fund. Speaking at his inauguration ceremony in the Brangwyn Hall on Friday 8th May 2009, Cllr Lloyd said:

“I am delighted to announce that the St David’s Medical Foundation will be the main recipient of the Lord Mayor’s Charity Fund for 2009-2010. Both the Lady Mayoress and I have been really impressed by the Foundation’s work in supporting medical education and research. The fact that the Foundation has been established by Swansea University’s School of Medicine in order to promote better health for the whole region has also been a significant factor in selecting it as our charity”.

Chair of Trustees, Professor Julian Hopkin, who is also Rector of Health and Medicine for Swansea University, was thrilled to discover the Foundation had been selected.

“As a new enterprise the Foundation will benefit greatly from the support of the Lord Mayor’s Charity Fund and we are truly grateful for the confidence he has shown in us. The Foundation’s goals are to support research that will enhance people’s health – children’s and adults’ – and to produce fine doctors for our hospitals and general practices. These are issues that touch us all – how we’re born, how we develop and how we’re treated when we’re ill. I hope that the Lord Mayor’s generosity acts as a catalyst for others in the city and the region to come forward and support us”.

The Foundation team was at the Brangwyn Hall ceremony to encourage further support. Martin Thornton, Director of Development, spoke about the Founders’ Club, a growing band of people that are taking the plunge and supporting the Foundation in its early years:

“The Founders’ Club is group of benefactors that are fully involved with the Foundation’s progress and receive invitations to exclusive events. The club is open to organisations and individuals and, with a gift of as little as £80 a month, anyone can become part of this unique group and be involved in the School of Medicine’s exciting future”

Official Campaign Launch

On the 8th of October 2008 we will officially launch our campaign and the Founders Club, in the Institute of Life Science at Swansea University.

The celebrations will include the unveiling of our benefactors board with James Hook and Alun-Wyn Jones of the Ospreys. We will also be touring the labs to see where the disease-fighting research takes place and formally thanking some of our generous donors.

The event is by invitation only.

St. David’s Medical Foundation Inaugural Scholarship

Nia and Sarah at the National Waterfront Museum
Nia and Sarah celebrate graduation at the National Waterfront Museum

Congratulations to the class of 2008!

To celebrate the School of Medicine’s very first graduation for Graduate-Entry Medicine and Trauma Surgery MSc students, St. David’s Medical Foundation is launching a special appeal for support.

The St. David’s Medical Foundation’s Inaugural Scholarship is an opportunity for people to support the future students of the School.

With the added benefit of gift aid, each scholarship costs £2,400 and will cover a year’s fees for a first year Graduate Entry student. Currently all students entering the first year have to pay fees of £3,100 and we are anxious to relieve the burden of this for a number of talented students who face hardship.

Medicine is a big personal and financial commitment. Rachel Haines, one of our current Graduate Entry students says; “there are many 'hidden costs' within a medical degree; plenty of books and equipment are required, travelling is often unavoidable, and of course like all humans, medical students still need to eat!”

Rachel struggled to meet the costs of travelling to her placements in her second year of the medical degree and found she was ineligible for an NHS bursary. Luckily she received some emergency hardship funds: “I could not have coped without the funding I received” she says. “Emergency funding saved me from severe financial hardship and from having to fit a part time job around a demanding and full time degree course. I do not know what I would have done if there had not been a fund to help me.”

Graduate-Entry Medicine students will be the doctors of the future; many of them will stay in South West Wales and create a vital boost to the health of the region. Most of those graduating in 2008 are already working in the local NHS trusts.

We want to support these committed people as much as possible and eradicate any economic obstacles to their study. Please help us to help them!

You can fund a whole scholarship or part-fund one with others; either by making a one-off gift or by setting up monthly instalments. If you decide to fund a full scholarship, you can name it yourself!

Please click here to download a form and make your important contribution.

Generous funding for epilepsy research - We have received our first six figure pledge!

Professor Julian Hopkin, School Rector presents Professor Mark Rees with a silver business card holder engraved with the St. David’s Medical Foundation insignia to celebrate the new funding.

The Pharmaceutical group UCB Pharma have pledged a total of £114,000 to be given over three years to fund Professor Mark Rees’s pioneering epilepsy research. Unrestricted funding will help Professor Rees’s team of researchers push ahead with research into the genetic and cellular biology of inherited human neurological and cardiac disorders. This unique research focuses on two very different disorders that can both cause sudden death. The team are based in the Institute of Life Science. Click here to find out more about the research group

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus! - St. David’s day eve celebrated with wine and cheese

St. David’s Medical Foundation celebrated St. David’s Day eve and leap year day on the 29th February with a flurry of cheese that can only be tolerated once every four years.

Cheers Wine Merchants and Cheeses from Wales joined us in the Institute of Life Science café Glas to ensure that the crowds of tasters had their arteries clogged, rinsed and decorated with a St. David’s flag.Students and academics alike flocked to sample the wares and enter our prize draw. Some of the more adventurous also signed up for skydiving, white water rafting and our Vietnam and China treks. Pin-on leeks, blow-up daffodils and novelty hats also came out once the wine had been thoroughly tasted.

It was our first St. David’s day event and we hope to repeat the excitement next year to celebrate the success of Welsh life-sciences and the first signs of spring!

Winter in the Gambia - The latest Swansea-Gambia link visit

By Bryony Coupe, link co-ordinator and Year 2 Graduate Entry Medicine student

Last December, eight second year graduate entry medical students from Swansea University spent two weeks in The Gambia. Our visit was planned and co-ordinated by fellow medical students in Banjul. As part of the wider link between Swansea Medical School and NHS trust and the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH) and Gambia Medical School, the student link aims to provide a better understanding of global health to produce more culturally aware, well-rounded doctors.

Patients and staff at the Royal Victoria teaching Hospital, Banjul

During the two week visit, we were exposed to a variety of medical, educational and cultural experiences. We visited rural clinics such as Serrakunda Health Centre, which primarily treats tuberculosis and leprosy patients. Mike Wild, student link co-ordinator said: “we learned so much about tuberculosis, its diagnosis and treatment. We witnessed World Health Organization DOTS treatment directly and had a tour of the laboratory, observing Ziehl-Nielsen staining on sputum samples.”

We also joined newly qualified house officers on several ward rounds. “We saw some very interesting cases on a surgical ward round, and took patient histories on a medical ward” said Mike. Our student hosts also arranged numerous teaching case studies focusing on diseases more prevalent in developing countries. “It was an excellent learning experience – there is a completely different spectrum of disease in The Gambia,” observed another student, Anna Langridge, “we will never forget our first hand experience of malaria and tuberculosis, or seeing a baby with tetanus.”

Attending lectures proved an interesting experience, too. Adrian Wilson commented; “it was amazing to see how similar our teaching was. For some reason I was surprised to see medicine was the same the world over!” We joined the fifth year Gambian students for some lectures. “We’re fortunate on the fast-track programme in Swansea to be taught by clinicians from day one, so we felt very at home in these lectures”.

Our hosts also made sure that we had a full cultural experience in The Gambia, cooking traditional food every day and taking us on local excursions. “Our new friends took such good care of us!” gushed another student. “We were privileged to try delicious Gambian dishes such as domoda, a local favourite made with peanuts and served with rice. At the weekend we all boarded the school minibus with as many of our hosts as could fit in to visit the local sights! We had a lovely walk through Abuko nature reserve where we saw hyenas and played catch with the monkeys. We sat with crocodiles at Kachikally crocodile pool, and spent a beautiful day at the beach playing football and learning new card games. We loved visiting the local markets and the four girls had traditional Gambian outfits made.” Our colleagues also postponed their annual medical school football and volleyball championships so that we could join in!

Gambian Internet

Beginning in 2005, the relationship forged between the two medical schools continues to strengthen each year, with the student visits a real highlight for both universities. Two Gambian students visited Swansea in both May 2006 and 2007, and Swansea students are currently fundraising to be able to bring over three students this September. This link is about more than an exchange of medical knowledge and learning, it’s about bringing people of different cultures and backgrounds together and learning from each other. We feel very close to our Gambian friends, and we’re sure our mutual friendship is where this link has its strength.

More information about Swansea International Health can be found at: www.swanih.org

St. David’s Medical Foundation are currently fundraising for the link’s next programme of activities, click here to find out more about how you can help.