The Peter Beaconsfield Prize is awarded annually to an Oxford University Physiological Sciences postgraduate student, with a winner's prize of £1000. The prize is part of the University's strategic vision for advancing the Medical Sciences Division's pioneering work in translational medicine; a critically important field where advances in the basic sciences are examined for their clinical implications for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease.
In keeping with the importance the Division places on this scientific interface, the prize is intended to reward young researchers who are capable of escaping from the stereotype of narrow specialisation to engage with translational medicine, and display a wider grasp of the significance and potential applicability of their research. Previous prize winners have gone on to develop their research internationally.
Oliver Neely, who is co-supervised by Professor David Paterson and Associate Professor Ana Domingos, has been named as this year's winner. For his application, he wrote an essay entitled "Non-Classical Hypertension?: A neuroimmune pathology underlying a cardiovascular disease". The essay discussed a potential role of sympathetic nervous system inflammation in contributing to essential hypertension.
Congratulations to Oliver!