The H Singh Award
The Trust has received news from two of its gold medallists spanning the past 12 years.
WPH Charitable Trust awards an annual prize to the best graduating medical student of the University of Warwick Medical School. Originally called the Gold Medal Award, the prize was recently renamed the H Singh Award, in memory of a highly-regarded trustee of the charity.
The Trust has received news from two of its gold medallists spanning the past 12 years.
Lucy Green – 2004 winner
Lucy Green won her award in 2004. She is still in medical training, and hopes to complete her qualifications in vascular surgery within the next 4 years.
After initially qualifying, Lucy spent three years in junior hospital jobs in Coventry and Warwickshire, and then landed a training programme role in the Yorkshire and Humberside region, which in 2007 prompted a move to Huddersfield, and then Hull, where she admits to putting down roots…
Lucy started her surgical registrar training in Hull, and was then offered a research post, which she followed for two years, resulting in a Masters degree in Clinical Education, from Newcastle University, as well as an MD (Doctor of Medicine) from Hull York Medical School.
She restarted her surgical training in 2010, but the happy arrival of her first baby – son Neal – by her own admission, altered her training path.
Lucy took the decision to focus on vascular surgery, rather than general work, which she is currently pursuing on a part-time basis alongside her role caring for baby Neal. She hopes to return to full-time work in October 2017, and get her Certificate of Completion Training two and a half years after then.
Heather Dias (nee Tovey) – 2009/10 winner
After leaving WMS, Heather moved to the North West where she completed both her foundation and core medical training.
She now work as a registrar in Clinical Oncology in the East Midlands. She says she has found that her WPH award has been invaluable each time she has applied for a new post, as it helps exemplify her academic achievement at medical school.
‘When job applications are scored, often there are points given for any prizes awarded, so I have found that the WPH award helps strengthen my job applications, and is still worthy of referencing even 6 years after graduating,’ she said.
Ayrton Goddard – 2013 winner
At the other end of the timeframe is gold medallist Ayrton Goddard, who received his award in 2013.
Ayrton has used his medical skills and knowledge to forge a career spanning the world.
He initially took a foundation job in Torquay after graduating from Warwick, where he completed a diploma in clinical education and a module on Understanding Research and Critical Appraisal in addition to his clinical commitments.
Following this, he moved to Australia to work in an A&E department on the southern Gold Coast, but eventually split his time between a busy district general hospital and a rural general hospital.
Ayrton has since returned to the UK and is currently working in the Orkney Islands in a small rural general hospital.
He plans to start his General Practice training in August, in the Wessex region.
Ayrton is happy to admit being incredibly proud to have won the WPH Charitable Trust’s Gold Medal, despite it being a fantastic surprise to him at the time. He reckons it is still the most significant distinguishing achievement of his medical career to date.
James Wilson – 2013 winner
‘The WPH Gold Medal continues to mean a lot to me. It adds significantly to my CV and opens up opportunities.
‘Since graduation I have completed the Foundation years (FY1 and FY2) in North Central London. I’m now a ‘Core Medical Trainee’ – the first stage of specialist training required to become a hospital physician. I recently passed my ‘PACES’ examination and will soon graduate as a ‘Member of the Royal College of Physicians’ (MRCP (UK)).
‘The job is tough though, with lots of weekends and night shifts, but with one year left of CMT, there is light at the end of the tunnel! Next year I intend to take a year out of formal training to complete a (3-month) diploma in tropical medicine and volunteer for medicins sans frontieres (MSF), before applying for registrar positions in infectious diseases – most likely in London if they’ll have me.’
