Most medical undergraduates find their heavy workload, busy timetable and hectic social lives enough to keep them occupied, but two students from the University of Exeter Medical School felt compelled to use their limited spare time to engage diverse audiences with pathology via creative events and activities. Now the team of two, Navin Mukundu Nagesh and Bogdan Chiva Giurca, have been rewarded by being selected as the joint winners of the Royal College of Pathologist’s Furness Prize for Science Communication 2018; the first time this Prize has been awarded to undergraduates.
The Furness Prize is an award given annually to a pathology trainee or undergraduate who has shown excellence in their science communication activities throughout the year. A prize of £200 awarded to the winner of the competition, funded by the previous College President Professor Peter Furness (2008-2011). Navin and Bogdan first engaged with the Royal College of Pathologists by attending the annual Pathology Summer School run by the College in 2016. They were inspired by the public engagement session delivered by Suzy Lishman and decided to get involved in National Pathology Week (NPW). They’ve organised activities for NPW ever since, and have, to date, engaged with over 1,750 members of the public and 500 school/college students across Devon and Cornwall. Their initial event in 2016 has inspired numerous students from across the UK to get involved in organising and supporting NPW over the years. One example is a series of events organised by students at UCL, who collaborated with Navin and Bogdan to raise awareness of careers in pathology across London. They were subsequently invited to deliver the “Public Engagement” session at the Pathology Summer School in 2017 where they shared experiences and offered support to attendees.
The two students have been involved in numerous other science communication activities including “Talk Cancer” which involved working with a local cancer charity to produce a book for cancer patients, written by cancer patients with honest reflections, monologues, poems and artwork to portray the range of emotions and thoughts during a cancer journey. A story was covered by ITV news charity Fixers and a short piece was recently aired. These are only a few examples of the huge range of high quality science communication projects and events these two inspiring students have developed and supported.
Nominated by former College President, Dr Suzy Lishman CBE, Navin and Bogdan will be awarded with their certificates at the College’s New Fellow’s Ceremony on 7th February. On hearing the news Dr Lishman said:
I am delighted that Bogdan and Navin have been awarded the Furness Prize this year; they are very worthy winners. Since I first met them at the Pathology Summer School in 2016 it has been clear that they have a passion for communication with the public and the energy and vision to recruit others to join them. In a relatively short time they have organised a wide range of innovative events and engaged with diverse audiences, at the same time developing their own skills and those of other students. The fact that they have achieved so much while still medical students is remarkable. I hope their enthusiasm for pathology leads them to a career in the specialty. It was a pleasure to nominate them for this prize and I look forward to following their future endeavours.
The 2019 Furness Prize for Science Communication will open again in late Spring for nominations.
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