Class of 1976 graduates who married at University return to Dundee

Published On Tue 5 Jul 2016 by Dominic Younger

(Jane and Philippe Boissiere with Professor Sir Pete Downes)

Almost 100 medical alumni from the Class of 1976 will return to the University of Dundee this weekend for their 40th anniversary graduation celebrations.

Among them will be the reunion organisers, Philippe and Jane Boissiere, who got married during their fourth year of studies in Dundee.

Travelling from as far away as New Zealand and Qatar, the large group of alumni will gather in Dundee from Friday, 8th July and during the course of their stay will visit the School of Medicine and Ninewells Hospital.

Philippe Boissiere, one half of the alumni couple behind the 40th anniversary reunion of the class, said, “Everyone is hugely excited to return to Dundee. We have received a remarkable response from our old classmates and it all seemed to very quickly snowball.

“We have 92 graduates and their partners returning to Dundee and the hospital. When we first stepped inside Ninewells there was such an optimistic feeling in the air around the newly laid and polished floors that technology could solve all our problems.

“It will be fantastic to see all the areas we knew well as students and how they have changed now.”

Philippe proposed to Jane when they were both in their fourth year of studying at Dundee, having met at a Freshers’ dance at the Invercarse Hotel.

The couple spent a one night honeymoon in the Lake District before returning to Dundee and their studies, finding new accommodation to live in with the support of the University.

When the couple both graduated, Jane was six months pregnant with their daughter Claire. Who later went on to collect her own degree in Psychology from the University in 1999.

The couple will be joined this weekend by distinguished colleagues including Professor Rod MacLeod who was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2015 for services in Terminal Care.

The University of Dundee is the Scottish University of the Year 2016, as named by the Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide.

Dundee School of Medicine is ranked top University in Scotland for medicine and 5th in the UK according to the Guardian 2017, and have been in the top 5 for the past 9 years and in the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF 2015).

For media enquiries contact:
Dominic Glasgow
Media Relations Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
Tel: +44 (0)1382 385131
Email: d.w.glasgow@dundee.ac.uk