Faculty of Medicine community celebrated with 25th Anniversary Staff Awards

The Faculty of Medicine celebrated its 25th Anniversary Staff Awards which recognised those who have significantly contributed to the Faculty.

The Staff Awards, a major event in the Faculty of Medicine’s 25th anniversary celebrations, honoured the many important and diverse contributions made by current and former staff over the last quarter century. Staff and teams were nominated by their colleagues, with community panels picking the overall winners across a wide range of categories.

Award winners, nominees, and the staff who put them forward for recognition were invited to a special event at the Queen's Tower Rooms in South Kensington. Attendees were greeted with a canapés reception and opening introduction from Imperial President, Professor Hugh Brady: “Tonight we are recognising those who have contributed in so many ways to the Faculty over the last twenty-five years. 

"The Faculty of Medicine and Medical School have to be among the very best in the world. Whether that is rankings, quality of research outputs, quality of graduates, most recently the Research Excellence Framework, the Biomedical Research Council or the influence you are all having in forming our newest graduates who are populating our healthcare and generating research that is literally changing practice which we saw during Covid. 

“We want to say a big thank you from our entire community for what you have done over that period, and I am certainly looking forward to being a part of the next twenty-five years and working with you to deliver on your ambition.” 

Touching on the significance of the awards, Prof Jonathan Weber, Dean of the Faculty of  Medicine, said: “The 25th anniversary awards have been a real reflection of staff across the entire faculty, and every part of the academic, research and education mission. Over 300 nominations were received for the awards, and I would like to thank all those who nominated and also the panels who brought this together, including Dr Omid Halse for Education, Professor Liz Lightstone for Community and Culture and Professor Peter Openshaw for Research.  

“It has been hugely uplifting to read all those contributions and tonight we are celebrating not just the winners, but all those who were nominated and everyone who has had a positive contribution to the Faculty over the last 25 years. I want to thank all our staff and everyone here tonight for all you have done to get the Faculty where it is today.” 

To cover the breadth of activity, the staff awards comprised a range of categories covering Culture and Community, Education and Research. We spoke to some of our winners about their success.

Dr Elizabeth Owen — Award Winner for Teaching 

“I am immensely proud to receive this Teaching Award to celebrate 25 years since the formation of the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine. It has been a privilege and a joy to teach so many bright, talented young people and I hope I have inspired some of them to not only go into Obstetrics and Gynaecology as a career but also to continue teaching the next generations of medical students.” 

Jennifer Wells — Award Winner for Administrative Support 

“It was with a mixture of surprise and pride that I received the news of this Award. Having worked at Imperial for over 25 years, I have spent the majority of my working life as a PA here and I am hugely grateful for that opportunity. I have met many people and learned so much along the way. The work has often been challenging, always interesting and personally rewarding.” 

MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis — Award Winners for Outstanding Achievement through Collaborative Research  

"We are delighted to receive this award. Collaboration is at the very heart of what we do at the MRC Centre. It is testament to the brilliant work and dedication of not only our team, but the strong relationships we have built with colleagues around the world, that we are able to do what we do." - Prof Azra Ghani, Chair in Infectious Disease Epidemiology 

Department of Immunology and Inflammation Laboratory Management Team — Award Winners for Outstanding Technical Support  

 “I’ve had the pleasure of working with the team for the last three years and they have provided a brilliant service to the whole of the department. When the first lockdown happened back in 2020, we had to quickly close down the labs and my team were just fantastic in ensuring we built safe ways of working for all our staff, especially when covid research started to take place within the department. I am incredibly proud of everything they have achieved.” - Neil Galloway-Phillips, Team Leader for the Immunology and Inflammation Laboratory Management Team

Prof Mary Wells & Prof Caroline Alexander — Award Winners for Outstanding Contribution from Honorary Staff  

“It is brilliant to have recognition for Allied Health Professions and key to that team is the leadership and drive of Prof Jeremy Levy alongside our CATO team. In the Trust, I am passionate to continue to impact research culture. That cultural change we are pushing for relies on the support of all but I'd like to particularly thank the Therapy leadership team.” - Prof Caroline Alexander

“I feel really proud to get this award having been at Imperial for five years. I can’t really believe that I’ve been recognised in this way along with my colleague. We work really closely together, and we both feel passionately about building research careers for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, especially in a faculty as prestigious and world leading as this. It’s incredibly humbling to be part of this amazing celebration.” - Prof Mary Wells

A full list of all nominees and award winners is available on the Faculty of Medicine 25th Anniversary Staff Awards webpage.  Congratulations and thank you to all.