Top researcher pays tribute to colleagues
SARAH Derrett spends so much time researching injuries that receiving the top award at last night’s Otago Medical School Teaching and Research Excellence Awards was a healing experience.
The Otago Medical School Dunedin Campus preventive and social medicine professor won the Dean’s Medal for research excellence, an award that gave extra meaning to all the work she and her colleagues had carried out over many years.
‘‘I’ve never won anything like this before. It’s very special. I’m delighted. I feel very honoured and I’m very grateful for my research colleagues as well,’’ Prof Derrett said.
‘‘We do a lot of research collaboratively, so I’m grateful for all of us.
As director of the Injury Prevention Research Unit (IPRU) much of her research is focused on injury.
She has led the Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study (20072013), the Subsequent Injury Study, she is the New Zealand principal investigator on the Bandung Neurosurgery
Department Patient Outcomes Project, an investigator on the Longitudinal Spinal Cord Injury Outcome study, and an investigator on several other projects which look into health and wellbeing outcomes for people experiencing a range of health conditions.
She is also working with colleagues at the University of Chicago, investigating integrated care and diabetic services in the United States.
Otago Medical School dean Prof Rathan Subramaniam said the annual awards ceremony was a chance to recognise and thank the vital, highcalibre staff the Dunedin Campus of the medical school had.
‘‘The fact this region hosts one of the world’s top 100 medical schools, in the field of medicine and life sciences, is only possible because of the quality of the people we have here at Otago.
‘‘We simply couldn’t do what we do without such extraordinary staff.’’
❛ The fact this region hosts one of the world’s
top 100 medical schools, in the field of medicine and life sciences, is only possible because of the quality of the people we
have here at Otago Otago Medical School dean Prof
Rathan Subramaniam