Merton graduate student named RSM Wesleyan Trainee of the Year 2014

Merton DPhil candidate Samantha de Silva has been named as RSM Wesleyan Trainee of the Year 2014 by the Royal Society of Medicine for her research into gene therapy for patients with end-stage retinal degenerations. Samantha's work in this area has now garnered her a trio of awards, this latest being preceded by the Dermot Pierse prize in Ophthalmology from the Royal Society of Medicine and the Oxford Ophthalmological Congress Founder's Cup in 2014.

Samantha's research aims to tackle conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa, which affect about 1 in 3000 people, a significant proportion of them experiencing extensive visual loss and in some cases complete blindness. She is investigating the role of optogenetics in gene therapy: This aims to make residual cells in the degenerate retina light-sensitive, a process which could potentially restore visual function.

Commenting on her award, Samantha said:

"I feel very honoured to receive the RSM Wesleyan Trainee of the Year award, since I had to compete with other trainees across all medical and surgical specialities, and such recognition motivates me to pursue my research further."

Samantha took a first class degree in pre-clinical medicine at the University of Cambridge (St John’s 1997) and came to Oxford to study clinical medicine at Keble in 2000. As a specialist trainee in Ophthalmology in the Oxford deanery she decided to take time out of clinical training to pursue research into retinal degenerations. Having been awarded a prestigious Wellcome Trust clinical research training fellowship, she embarked on a DPhil under the supervision of Professors Robert MacLaren and Mark Hankins.

And as though undertaking ground-breaking medical research wasn't enough to occupy her, during this time she also had a daughter, now 2½; Samantha says, "She keeps me extra busy!"