Kent and Medway Medical School’s (KMMS) Wojciech Slusarczyk and James Dobrzanski have become the first students from the school to present research at a mental health conference, with the former winning a prize for his oral presentation.
The conference, titled “Beyond Today: Advances in Psychiatry Clinics”, was presented by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and took place online on Wednesday 8th May. It provided psychiatrists with the opportunity to explore emerging themes in clinical psychiatry.
James, a fourth-year student, presented a research piece, titled “A systematic review of the use of portable ultra-low field magnetic resonance imaging in non-acute brain imaging and its potential use in dementia assessment”. His work reviewed the literature available surrounding the topic.
Wojciech, also a fourth-year student, submitted “Laughter as the best medicine? A systematic review of simulated laughter interventions on the mental health of adults” orally and was awarded with the poster prize for demonstrating the greatest Innovation/Service Improvement.
The Poster Prize was open to Foundation Year Doctors and medical students working or studying in the South Eastern Division, with a maximum of 20 posters selected for pre-judging. Wojciech was awarded a prize for winning this category.
The students were supported by Professor Sukhi Shergill, Director of Research at KMMS, and Director of Research at the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT); and Dr Joanne Rodda, Senior Lecturer at KMMS, and Consultant Psychiatrist at the KMPT.
Professor Shergill said: “It’s fantastic to see our students take advantage of the clinical research opportunities that the medical school and local NHS trusts are now able to offer together.
“This is enormous credit to the students’ hard work, drive and diligence in seeing their projects through to completion; but also, the encouragement and vision of their supervisors to present their research at such national and international forums.
“These will be the clinical academics of the future, linking to our new National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded Integrated Academic Training programme.”
Further information regarding the Royal College of Psychiatrists and upcoming events can be found on their website.