Student wins Royal College of Psychiatrists award
21 December 2010
Organisers of the pioneering intercalated psychology degree offered at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s, were overjoyed when a former student won the Royal College of Psychiatrists London Division Research Competition for her work on the SOUL-D project.
Jennifer Powell, a medical student from Leeds came to the IoP in her third year to study for the year-long intercalated BSc in Psychology. A significant component of the study was within SOUL-D (South London Diabetes) a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) funded cohort study investigating newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes in South London, with a focus on the mental health implications of the disease.
Jennifer Powell said: 'Coming from a university outside of London I found the staff and fellow students to be welcoming and supportive which contributed to an enjoyable and successful year, and I was delighted that my work won the Royal College of Psychiatrists London Division Research Competition.
'I consider that doing an intercalated degree has benefited me enormously, giving me the opportunity to study a subject of interest in depth and develop the research skills which will be invaluable in my future career in medicine.'
Her aim was to find out if there was a relationship between glycaemic control and level of cognitive functioning. Although on analysis no association between these two factors was found, the results did show an unexpectedly high proportion of participants to have some degree of cognitive impairment, and this was associated with other factors such as ethnicity and abstinence from alcohol.
Dr Khalida Ismail, Clinical Reader in Psychiatry of Physical Illness at the IoP, and her supervisor, said: 'Jennifer’s double success in achieving a distinction in her intercalated BSc and the Royal College of Psychiatrists London Division Research Competition reflects her abilities and demonstrates the excellent learning platform we offer medical students within the Psychological Medicine Clinical Academic Group.'
Dr Emma Godfrey, Lecturer in Psychology and Course Leader for the Intercalated BSc in Psychology at the IoP, said: 'We are delighted with Jennifer's success, which emphasises the outstanding research opportunities and excellent calibre of students on our course. Jennifer was also awarded the Haris Ahmed Memorial Prize for her project last year and we wish her every success in her future career.'
For information about the Intercalated BSc in Psychology please use the following link to the prospectus: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/medicine/ugstudy/curriculum/intercalated/ or contact the administrator via email at deborah.millard@kcl.ac.uk
If you would like to find out more about SOUL-D please contact Dr Khalida Ismail, khalida.2.ismail@kcl.ac.uk