21 June 2013

Wimberley Award 2013 to be presented at Graduation

Photo opportunity: 2pm on Friday, 21st June at Robing Rooms, City Chambers. Stewart will be available ahead of graduating.

Stewart McKie has a doubly special Graduation day to look forward this week when he will be presented with the Wimberley Award 2013 along with his degree.

The Wimberley Award is given every year to a University of Dundee student who has exhibited outstanding and exemplary efforts or has made a distinguished contribution to the life of the University.

Stewart (23), from Ayr, will graduate with a medical degree at the ceremony at Caird Hall on the afternoon of Friday, 21st June. His time at university has been marked not only by outstanding academic achievements, but also his commitment to the development of medical education opportunities for fellow students and to widening-access initiatives.

Intercalated degree programmes allow students to spend a year following another, related course that will enhance their learning, and Stewart chose to study the BMSc (Hons) Teaching in Medicine, which he earned a first class degree in.

Stewart was so inspired by the experience that he used what he learned to create teaching opportunities for other undergraduates, forming the Dundee University Medical Education Society (DUMES).

In addition to matching teaching opportunities to students in order to broaden their education, the society has worked in a number of areas such as recruitment, promoting the University to potential applicants and helping them prepare for their interviews.

DUMES also established a system of mock examinations in which senior medical students are given the chance to act as examiners and assess younger undergraduates.

'It is a requirement that all doctors do some teaching as part of their work now, whether in terms of public engagement or of students, and so the idea is for this scheme to help them be the best teachers they can be,' explained Stewart.

'At the same time, it is helping to provide a more rounded education for medical students and helps them to think about medicine in new ways. I started going to secondary schools when I was in first year and speaking to people who were interested in studying medicine about how to go about the application process because it was something I felt I would have benefitted from.

'Specifically I enjoy going to schools to try and encourage young people with an interest in becoming a doctor to follow their dreams and to help them along the way. I am delighted to win the Wimberley Award, which is a fantastic way to round off my time at university.'

Stewart, who is also Events Representative on the Medical Society committee, will take up a junior doctor post at Ninewells Hospital after the summer. He hopes to one day specialise in accident and emergency medicine.

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