Students celebrate clinician awards success

The 34th annual Student Clinician Programme Awards celebrated the hard work of the dental students involved and the valuable contribution they made to the future of their profession.

First place went to Deema Marzouq for her presentation on ethical issues with the use of animal-derived products in periodontics.

Second place was awarded to Thomas Hughes for his presentation on the suspension bioreactor culture of embryonic stem cells for cost-effective applications within regenerative dentistry.

Katherine O’Donnell took third place for her presentation on the role of LL-37 in periodontal wound healing.

The names of the winners and runners up were announced at the prestigious gala event held at the Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt hotel in County Wicklow.

The programme’s winner received an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas as an honoured guest of Dentsply International, which will take place at the American Dental Association in October. The runner up received a cash prize of £500.

Participating students each completed a research project in an area of their choice. The shortlisted entries demonstrated original thinking, and their projects were written logically and in a professional style. As always, the standard of work was incredibly high.

Entrants from 16 dental schools across the UK and Ireland saw their projects scrutinised by a panel of experts including Professor Nairn Wilson, head of school and dean of King’s College London Dental Institute; Professor Robert McConnell, University Dental School and Hospital, Cork; Dr Susan Hooper, consultant and senior lecturer at Bristol Dental School; and Dr John R Drummond, consultant senior lecturer at the University of Dundee School of Dentistry.