magazine - Somerville College - University of Oxford

Somerville Magzine | 31
The Caldicott Appeal
Help us to continue a tradition
of medical excellence at Somerville
In order to mark our appreciation and admiration for Dame Fiona
Caldicott on the eve of her departure from Somerville, we would like
to invite you to contribute to a project named in her honour.
This project, which is dear to Fiona’s heart, is a Caldicott Bursary for
the support of Clinical Medical Students at Somerville.
Medicine has been transformed at Somerville
since Dame Fiona took up her post in
1996. Whilst Somerville has always had a rich
scientific and medical tradition, the last 14 years have
seen a transformation in the way medical students are
selected, taught and trained within a highly stimulating,
professional collegiate environment. As a result,
Somerville is one of the three leading Oxford colleges for
medicine and for clinical medicine in particular, as our
outstanding students and recent results testify.
Medicine is a long and demanding course, and in
particular it is financially demanding for all our clinical
students who have already completed undergraduate
degrees. In order to attract the very best students,
irrespective of background and financial resources, it is
essential to offer financial support. If we are able to raise
£50,000 for a Caldicott Bursary, this would enable us to
give substantial help to one medical student every year.
Two major developments have allowed Somerville to
expand the numbers of clinical students in College under
Fiona’s leadership – allowing us to retain many of our
excellent undergraduates. The first, was the association of
the new May Professorship of Medicine with Somerville,
and the appointment of Professor Rajesh Thakker to
this Chair to lead the development of clinical medicine
at Somerville. The second, was the College’s pioneering
commitment to expanding access to medicine to as wide
a range of students as possible through the accelerated
4 year graduate entry course which is now in its 8th
very successful year. Dame Fiona has been a vigorous
supporter of the fundraising efforts required to sustain
and develop this very active college community which
now numbers some 36 medical students, four Fellows
and numerous preclinical and clinical tutors. There is
no doubt that very little of the above could have been
achieved in such a short time without Dame Fiona’s
vision, energy and support.
With the establishment of at Caldicott Bursary, we would
like to honor Dame Fiona’s tremendous contributions to
medical education by supporting talented medical students
in financial need. About 50% of students applying to
Somerville come from state schools and the College is
keen to ensure that we can maintain and even increase
this proportion. Somerville supports one in four of its
students with some form of financial aid, making it one
of the leading colleges in Oxford to offer this level of help.
However, the need for bursaries for medical students is
great and there are many more talented applicants in
financial need than we can currently support.
In light of the future demands for medical graduates in the
clinical areas we are asking you to support the Caldicott
Bursary Fund. The establishment of a Caldicott Bursary
would enable the College to continue our visionary strategy
for offering outstanding students access to a world leading
education in clinical medicine on a needs-blind basis.
We are delighted to honour Dame Fiona’s distinguished
medical career in this way and to mark our appreciation
of her achievements as she retires as Principal of
Somerville this year. We hope you will help to support
clinical students at Somerville by making a gift on the
enclosed gift form. Your gift and the support that it
conveys will be greatly appreciated by all at Somerville.
With warm wishes,
Harriet Maunsell (Dawes, 1962, PPE)
Chair, Somerville Development Board
Jenny Wright (Allan, 1968, History)
Chair, Somerville Medics’ Committee