20 June 2012

Sir James Black awards presented to outstanding students

The Sir James Black Awards for 2012 have been presented to four outstanding students at the University of Dundee.

The Sir James Black Award for Outstanding Achievement is an annual award presented by each College of the University to the final year undergraduate student making the most outstanding contribution to research and scholarship in their field.

The Awards are named after the former Chancellor of the University. Sir James Black was a Nobel-prize winning scientist renowned for his discovery of the beta-blocker, propranolol, and the H2 blocker, cimetidine (Tagemet), which transformed the treatment of angina and stomach ulcers respectively.

Sir James was Chancellor of the University between 1992 and 2006 and took a deep interest in the growth of the University. The University presents the Awards in memory of his remarkable contribution to science, to society and to the University of Dundee.

Lord Naren Patel, Chancellor of the University, presented this year's awards to four students at a special lunch to mark Graduation. Lord Patel said, "The students who are receiving awards today have all produced truly outstanding work and they are fully deserving of this honour.

"Sir James was passionate about students and excited by their potential. He took a very keen interest in the work they were doing and I am sure he would have been very impressed by what our four award winners have achieved."

This year's winners of the Awards are:

• Rachelle Binny, College of Art, Science and Engineering:
  Rachelle completed a project on the mathematical modelling of cancer. She scored one of the highest marks ever for an honours project in mathematics and external examiners commented on her exceptional ability.
• Duncan Blues, College of Arts and Social Sciences
  Duncan is a Law graduate whose dissertation concentrated on the legislation around negligence leading to psychiatric injury. Examiners said his paper could undoubtedly form the basis of an article for a leading journal, which is a remarkable achievement for a student.
• Magdalena Grzeszczuk, College of Life Sciences
  Magdalena's tutors have described her as being 'amongst the best undergraduate students they have ever seen'. Her work is already contributing to research for publication.
• Mary Duffy, College of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing
  Mary demonstrated outstanding ability to successfully complete a research project in her 4th and final year that has made a significant impact in the primary health care research field. She completed a project to study the relationship between antibiotic prescribing and resistance in children. She has already presented the research at various conferences and written a paper which has been submitted to a leading journal in her field.

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