Dr Rina Dutta named RSM Young Research Trainee of the year
Dr Rina Dutta has been named Young Research Trainee of the Year 2011 by the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM).
Dr Dutta is an MRC Research Training Fellow and Academic Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College London and an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist for the National Affective Disorders Unit at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
In July 2011 Dr Dutta was awarded first place in the Psychiatry Section of the RSM Mental Health Foundation Research Prize. The prize is awarded annually for the most outstanding published paper reporting original research work by the principal author in the last year. Dr Dutta’s submission was her paper ‘Reassessing the Long-term Risk of Suicide After a First Episode of Psychosis’ in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Dr Dutta was then one of six research trainees shortlisted from all medical and surgical specialties for the RSM Young Trainee of the Year award. Trainees were required to present their work in front of a general medical audience and a panel of judges which included the President of the RSM, Professor Parveen Kumar, Dean of the RSM, Professor John Betteridge and Dame Deirdre Hine, Past President of the RSM. The candidates were judged on their ability to communicate with a non-specialist medical audience and to field questions from the floor. Dr Dutta was awarded the first prize of £3,000, a year’s RSM membership and named RSM Young Research Trainee of the Year.
Dr Dutta says: ‘The award was a lovely surprise, especially amongst such accomplished medics and surgeons. I am truly honoured to be the first psychiatrist to be awarded this Prize. I plan to put the prize money towards further research into the risk of suicide amongst those with several mental illness.’
She attended the event with colleagues Professor Til Wykes, Professor Anthony Cleare, Dr Elvira Bramon-Bosch and Dr Javier Lopez-Morinigo.
Prof Wykes, Vice-Dean of Research at the IoP at King’s says: ‘This is a fantastic achievement for Rina. The dedication she shows towards her research is commendable, and the award is testimony to the high calibre of young researchers we have at the IoP.’
For more information, please contact Seil Collins, Press Officer at the IoP email: seil.collins@kcl.ac.uk, or Despina Koniordou: iop-pr@kcl.ac.uk . Alternatively, you can call us: 0207 848 5377.
Photo left to right: Mr Craig Errington (Chief Executive Wesleyan Assurance, sponsors of the event); Dr Rina Dutta; Prof Parveen Kumar, Dean of the RSM. Photo by Kay Lockett (www.kaylockett.com)