Sue Britton Bursary Award 2024
A student at Barts and The London School of Medicine and
Dentistry, part of Queen Mary University London, has been awarded the 2024 Sue
Britton Bursary Award.
Sue Britton was a double-lung transplantee who passed away
in 2020. She had worked in occupational health for many years.
The bursary award is made annually in Sue’s name, by
Occupational Health Assessment Ltd, to a medical student who has shown
exceptional courage in the face of difficult circumstances.
This year’s recipient, Ms. Lydie Kitenge, is a final year
medical student at Barts Medical School. Lydie was chosen as the recipient by
Sue’s family.
Lydie is close to becoming a fully qualified doctor.
However, she had to overcome a huge number of difficulties on the road to
becoming a doctor. Arriving in the UK in 2006, Lydie was one of six siblings in
a single-parent household. She excelled academically, culminating in securing a
place at one of the most prestigious medical schools in the world.
Even through challenging circumstances, Lydie has worked
diligently to create opportunities for others. She co-founded Journey2Med, which exists to make
medicine more accessible as a career. She organised outreach events and a
virtual science fair during Covid.
As well as this award, Lydie’s continued efforts have also
been recognised with the KYE STEM Award 2020, Top 40 Black Undergraduate of the
Year Awards 2023 and Unidays Student Woman of the Year 2023.
On moving beyond her own difficulties in her career path, Lydie
says “I am committed to leveraging my medical expertise to actively contribute
to reducing healthcare inequalities beyond geographical boundaries”. She
continued “the bursary will support my capacity to effect lasting positive
change in the lives of others”.
Sue’s family added “Once again it was very hard for us to
reach a consensus as the number and quality of applicants is very high.” They
continued “It was also noticeable to all of us that the major factor all
applicants had in common this year is financial hardship, which is a shift from
previous years and reflects the conditions the whole country is experiencing.”
“In the end the person we chose, despite the hardships
experienced, displayed a propensity to help others and also managed to project
a hopeful outlook with expectations of a positive outcome.”
Magnus Kauders, Managing Director, Occupational Health
Assessment Ltd says “We are proud to be able to make an annual award in Sue’s
name and Lydie is an incredibly worthy recipient. We wish her well in her
future career as a doctor.”