Awards bestowed at IBMS London Region AGM

This month the IBMS London Region held its first meeting of the year. Having been dormant for some time, the meeting received wide interest from our members.

The AGM began with a word from IBMS Council Member and London Region Chair David Wells, who encouraged the attendees to support their region and join the committee. Following that was the award ceremony.

Fifty-year medals

The fifty-year medal is given to IBMS members to acknowledge their support and thank them for fifty years of continuous membership. This year’s fifty-year medal recipients were:

Robert ‘Bob’ Cumming

Bob’s first appointment was as a histopathology technician in 1968, at which time he joined the IBMS as an Associate. In 1972, he achieved his Higher National Certificate in Medical Laboratory Science, specialising in histopathology and cytology at St Peter’s Hospital. He took his special examination for IBMS Fellowship in 1974 and began his career in earnest. After 42 years in service to medical laboratories, having left St Thomas’ and the NHS in 2009 and then GSTS Pathology in 2010, Robert remained with the Institute as a retired member – and continued to participate in various local discussion groups.

 

Gwen Guthrie

Gwen Guthrie joined the IBMS in 1970. In 1989 she attained an MSc in immunology from Brunel University. In 2005 she became a Chartered Scientist. She retired in 2012 and became an IBMS Fellow in 2013. She is the regional assessment manager for Clinical Pathology Accreditation UK Ltd, and specialises in management, quality, safety and training. She is also a member of the IBMS History Committee.

 

David Spratt

David Spratt joined the IBMS in 1970. For years he worked at Epsom General Hospital, before moving to North Middlesex Hospital to act as Laboratory Manager. During his time he supported the Institute,  acting as a Specialist Diploma Examiner in cellular pathology. He became an IBMS Fellow and Chartered Scientist in 2004 and in 2007, became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. David retired in 2016.

David said,

"I was delighted to receive my 50 Year medal from Sarah May – a close friend and colleague who I first met in the 1980s through the IBMS London Region Management Discussion Group.

My career began in the Pathology Laboratories in Exeter. The skills, experience and qualifications I obtained whilst working in Pathology enabled me to take up exciting opportunities in veterinary pathology, animal welfare, and international conservation, before eventually returning to the NHS. 

Throughout my career I actively participated in professional life; promoting the profession, lecturing, teaching, assessing, and serving on several IBMS committees. After retirement in 2013 it was an honour to be elected and to serve as the first non-medical President of the Royal Society of Medicine Pathology Council.

I am extremely grateful to the IBMS for all the opportunities it gave me to learn and develop, and to have given me the knowledge, skills, and ability to have succeeded in the varied roles that I pursued."

New IBMS Fellows

Also, at the AGM two new IBMS Fellows from the London Region were acknowledged with Fellowship certificates:

Tendai Mangoma

Musfira Bukht

Musfira is Haematology Laboratory Manager at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust. She said,

“Thank you so much for the invite and for presenting me with my Fellowship. I really enjoyed the event as well as the talk on various generations. It was very interesting and had some very relatable content.

I have gone through various educational programmes provided by IBMS. I must confess that all these educational courses have helped me broaden my knowledge and understanding of the profession.”

Following the awards ceremony, attendees were treated to a talk by IBMS Deputy CEO Sarah May, on “Getting the most from a multi-generational workforce”.

 The AGM also received attention on Twitter. IBMS Council Member David Wells tweeted: