Izzy has been awarded the 2018 Royal College of Emergency Medicine Undergraduate Essay Prize

Exeter student wins prestigious essay prize

 An Exeter Medicine student has won a prestigious essay award for her essay on emergency medicine.

Izzy Fitzgerald was selected as the winner of the 2018 Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) Undergraduate Essay Prize. Izzy is completing a Masters in Research as part of her intercalation year, which gives Medicine students the opportunity to spend a year studying a related topic.

Izzy was awarded a prize of £1000 and has also been invited to present her work at the European Society of Emergency Medicine (EuSEM) and RCEM’s international emergency medicine conference, the RCEM EuSEM Scientific Conference 2018 in Glasgow this September. The prize also funds travel, accommodation and conference registration fee, as well as a one year membership of the RCEM.

Izzy said: “This year has been totally different to my medical degree and it’s been fascinating to learn so much about research and get the chance to run a trial. I’m really excited to present my results at an international conference.”

Izzy’s paper is entitled “Testing of a Valsalva Assist Device to assess effects on heart rate and strain pressures achieved compared to a standard manometer in healthy volunteers performing standard and modified Valsalva manoeuvres”, and will be published this September.

Professor Clive Ballard, Executive Dean of the Medical School, said: “Huge congratulations to Izzy. This is a fantastic achievement and it’s wonderful to see our students excelling at an international level.”

The prize comes after Izzy won the Research Poster Competition in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) category at the University’s recent Postgraduate Research Showcase, for her poster entry “Stopping your heart palpitations without drugs”. The PGR research showcase is an annual event which celebrates the work of the University’s postgraduate community.

Date: 12 June 2018