Academic News and Opportunities: November 2014

Our Administrator Alex Payne is leaving the department after five and a half years of hard-working, loyal service for our Postgraduate Taught courses.  Alex has done a remarkable job in turning round our procedures, making the course run efficiently, smoothly and doing the job of a really good administrator in a University:  she has allowed her academics to get on with their academic work!  Our courses is financially viable and go from strength to strength, in no small part due to the contribution of Alex.  While Alex is a friend and very valued by the Postgrad Taught Team and all of the department, I can give no greater praise than to say she is a consumate professional. Sorely missed, however, she must progress her career.  We wish her the very best for her fantastic new post as Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive and  the President of Cardiff University Students’ Union.

Other things, the Department had a very good year at the Difficult Airway Society meeting in Stratford, Dr Iljaz Hodzovic won joint first prize for his oral presentation, winning a prize (a cup in fact) donated by our department Alumni Dr Ralph Vaughan.  Dr Nathan Tweed, a Welsh Rotation registrar who has just left the clinical department won first prize for a poster.  Well done everybody, I must say.

Finally, an opportunity to support an introduction to Leadership Seminar for Welsh trainees (and Welsh Consultants if you feel you would like to benefit).  I have asked Ian Govier an expert in Leadership for Academi Wales to give a two and a half hour seminar to our international development students on Tuesday 2nd December at 14.00.  Sorry about the short notice, but if you would like to get involved and benefit from this, please contact me asap.  There will be an introductory talk on Leadership followed by some interactive exercises. Tei Sheraton organises the whole of the programme for Cardiff University.   Please contact Maria if you are interested, on gundyma@cf.ac.uk and she will let Tei and I know.

Professor Judith Hall