6 September 2007

Leading medics from around the world fly back to Dundee to mark 40th anniversary

Photo opportunities: Friday September 7th
10.30 am - Lecture Theatre 1, Ninewells Hospital. &
7 pm - Civic Reception, Marryat Hall

Former medical students from the University of Dundee - many of them now leading figures in their fields - have returned to the city to join the institution’s 40th anniversary celebrations.

The alumni back in the city for the 40th anniversary medical reunion this week have come from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand and the United States. They include in their number Professor Alasdair Breckenridge, chair of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency; Professor Peter Illingworth, medical director of IVF Australia; and Professor Margaret Wood, Chair of the Department of Anaesthesiology at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York.

Among those making presentations to the alumni will be a selection of `Local Heroes’ who have become synonymous with the developments in medical research at Dundee including Sir Philip Cohen, Sir David Lane and Sir Alfred Cuschieri.

"We have close to 200 people coming back to Dundee from all over the world and it is great to see them all back here," said Dr Crawford Reid, consultant at Stirling Royal Infirmary, who has organised the reunion.

"The medical school has produced many excellent graduates over the past 40 years who have gone on to great achievements around the world. The contribution that the school, and the city, has made to research and treatment of patients is tremendous and deserves to be celebrated in this way."

The reunion, which takes place today (Thursday Sept 6th) and tomorrow concludes with a gala dinner in the Caird Hall on Friday night.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk