8th March marks International Women’s Day (IWD), a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The work of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH) in this area supports the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals – Gender Equality and Reduced Inequalities.

Today we celebrate and highlight the incredible work of Faculty women past and present. In order to highlight the excellent work of women within FBMH, here is a collation of articles about our staff and students and their accomplishments:

We also delved into the archives to find out more about the first women graduates of Manchester Medical School, read the article here

Professor Dawn Edge, Professor Mental Health & Inclusivity and University Academic Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Race Equality). Dawn is the first Black women Professor at the University. Her work focuses on tackling inequalities in mental health, especially for Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Find out more here

Dr Hema Radhakrishhan, Associate Dean for Social Responsibility was nominated for a prestigious Northern Power Women Award for her work on equality, diversity and inclusion. Find out more here

Student Unekwuojo Agada, was named by the Pharmaceutical Journal as one of just 12 Women to Watch for 2020. She also co-won the ‘Outstanding contribution to widening participation’ student Making a Difference award for her role in setting up the Black Pharmacists Collective. Find out more about Unekwuojo here and the Black Pharmacists Collective here.

Dr Suzanne Verstappen, Reader in Musculoskeletal Epidemiology and Director of Social Responsibility in the School of Biological Sciences, main research interest is in the long-term outcomes such as worker productivity loss, functional disability and co-morbidities and its predictors in patients with adult and juvenile onset inflammatory arthritis. Find out more here.

Dr Karen Rees-Unwin, research associate in the Division of Cancer Sciences, was named ‘Staff Volunteer of the Year’ in 2017 for helping regenerate Ridge Hill, an area of Stalybridge with a population of 6,000. Find out more here

Student Sylvia Osahan, won a Highly Commended ‘Outstanding contribution to WP (student)’ Making a Difference award for her Medics in Primary Schools project which aims to inspire primary school students from widening participation backgrounds to consider a career in science and/or medicine. Read more here.

Vikki Goddard, Director of Faculty Operations is also the University Equality Diversity and Inclusion champion for the Professional Services. Vikki feels passionate about her role and has written a view point blog titled ‘Under-representation, does it matter?’. Find out more here

Jane Crosbie, Education and Training Co-ordinator won the Professional Services and Cultural Institutions’ Award at the 2019 Distinguished Achievement Awards. Jane is also part of the team who organises the PS development network. Find out more here

Professor Sandra Bucci, Professor of Clinical Psychology, has been awarded an NIHR Research Professor – the first one ever awarded at Manchester. Find out more here

Kate Tidman, Research Communications and Campaigns Manager works closely with academic and PS colleagues across the Faculty and University, as well as colleagues from across MAHSC, MCRC, CRUK and the Christie Hospitals to identify priority research, including that in cancer, one of the University’s five research beacons, that can then be showcased externally to help raise the profile of our world leasing and practice influencing research. Find out more here

Professors Jo Hart, Professor of Health Professional Education and Lucie Byrne-Davies, Professor of Health Psychology are supporting health and social care with psychology knowledge and skills to support responses to COVID-19. Find out more here

Student Holly Smith, won the ‘Volunteer of the year’ award 2020 and co-won the ‘Outstanding contribution to environmental sustainability’ (student) Making a Difference award and highly commended ‘Outstanding contribution to social innovation’ with the ‘Want not Waste’ initiative – a student-run plastic-free shop that promotes a sustainable way of life. Find out more here.  

Find out more about IWD on the Social Responsibility and Public Engagement team’s Twitter account @FBMH_SR

For more information and resources about PPIE including events, training and funding opportunities visit the Faculty’s PPIE Toolkit, sign up to the monthly PPIE digest, visit the SRPE website and PPIE blog, follow @FBMH_SR or email srbmh@manchester.ac.uk.

Related