Emily Freeman, veterinary student at the Royal (Dick) School for Veterinary Studies, won top prize at MSD Animal Health’s annual virtual research bursary awards day on Friday 10 September 2021.
Emily was awarded the MSD Animal Health Research Bursary trophy and £1,000, in addition to her original bursary, for her research and presentation on the evaluation and description of the nemabiome approach to investigate helminth coinfection relationships in livestock species in rural Kenya.
The runner up, awarded £500, was Jack Rust, a veterinary student at the University of Bristol for his research into the effectiveness of a detergent-based California Milk Test (CMT).
Emily commented on receiving her award: “I am honoured to receive this award, particularly bearing in mind the tough competition and high level of research presented today. I’m very grateful to MSD Animal Health for awarding me the research bursary and prize. I’m pleased that I can hopefully inspire others to take an interest in this area of research and continue with the work I’ve started.”
Throughout the awards day research presentations were given by the recipients of the MSD Animal Health Veterinary Student Research Bursaries in 2020. This included Royal (Dick) School for Veterinary Studies students Georgie Everest, for an “Assessment of bovine alveolar macrophages and roles in immunity”, and Beth Thompson for her project on “The role of TTC4 and HSP90 in replication of BoHV-1”.
The veterinary nurse research bursary presentation came from Emily Gorman from the Hospital for Small Animals at the Royal (Dick) School for Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh for her research in “Evaluating different methods of peripheral intravenous cannula fixation”. Guest presentations were given by the Senior Vice President of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), Daniella Dos Santos, and Sophie Mahendran, a Barham Benevolent Foundation lecturer in Farm Animal Health and Welfare and PhD student in calf health.
Annabelle Mohring, veterinary advisor at MSD Animal Health, responsible for managing the research bursaries commented: “We were delighted to have an eclectic and inspiring mix of presentations which revealed the depth and complexity of the research today’s veterinary students are developing. Their love of their work and commitment to research was apparent to everyone and to all of us on the judging panel. It was a great day all round and we’re excited and delighted to have awarded the top prize to Emily for her highly valuable research.”
For more information on the MSD Animal Health Research Bursaries, go to the MSD Animal Health website, here.
