For the fourth year of our Michael Pittilo student essay prize, we explored the theme of self-care.
The essay question was:
Who cares? With services overburdened by growing demand and restricted supply, what opportunities for health creation are there to improve the accessibility and sustainability of health services in the UK?
This year’s winners were
1st prize –Anna Watkinson-Powell, medical student intercalating in Public Health, University of Sheffield.
2nd prize – Lloyd Steel, 3rd year medical student, University of Sheffield
Joint 3rd prize – Ruth Perez-Merino, 1st year nursing student, Manchester Metropolitan University
Joint 3rd Prize – Cassie Philp, 3rd year medical student, Nottingham University.
Thanks to Dr Joanna Lunn of Waitrose for presenting the prizes.
Responding to the award, Chairman of the College of Medicine, Dr Michael Dixon said:
‘Yet again this year we have been overwhelmed by the volume and quality of entries to the Michael Pittilo Essay Prize.
We were delighted to see entries from students representing over nine different healthcare disciplines ranging from medicine, nursing and the allied health professions to chiropractic and complementary medicine. This diversity pays even greater testament to the memory of the late Professor Michael Pittilo who as well being a scientist and dedicated educationalist was a great champion of inter-professional education. We were also particularly honoured this year to have Dr Carol Blow, Professor Pittilo’s widow join our judging panel.
We would very much like to thank the Federation of Holistic Therapists, Karen Young and the International Therapist for working with us as our publishing partner again this year and also to thank Waitrose for their generous continued support for the competition. We would also like to thank all of the judges for kindly reading all of the students’ shortlisted essays and awarding the winners, which was no essay task and of course to thank all the students for their hard work and inspiration!’.
Dr Carol Blow, the late Professor Michael Pittilo’s wife added:
‘As a scientist and teacher, Mike would have been very impressed with the very high quality of the shortlisted essays, with their referencing and attention to detail. I feel very privileged to have been invited to join the panel of judges to represent him, and I congratulate Anna, the winner, and everyone who has submitted an entry.”
About Michael Pittilo
Our Essay Award is named after the late Professor Michael Pittilo, Vice Chancellor of Robert Gordon University. Professor Pittilo was a scientist, educationalist and champion of inter-professional education. He was also Chairman of the Regulatory Working Groups for Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture.
