News Archive

Medical students from the University of Western Australia have returned from their elective clinical placements, where they travelled to vastly different environments to Perth.

During their learning experience, students captured and submitted photography to The Western Australian Medical Students' Society (WAMSS) Elective Photography Competition and twenty students applied for the annual Alan Charters Presentation Awards.

This year, the Alan Charters Presentation Awards were opened by Professor Jon Watson, Executive Dean of the Health and Medical Sciences Faculty, in a new virtual format. Three selected finalists created a video of their experience. Judges looked for a presenter who demonstrated an understanding of the social and public health issues beyond the strictly ‘medical’.

First prize in the Awards went to Caleb Kim for More than just wounds, Tribal conflict in rural Papua New Guinea . Caleb recounted his journey on the back of a ute through communities impacted by tribal warfare. Second prize went to Kate Maddams for Manyazi ndi Edzi: Exploring the HIV stigma in rural Malawi . Kate shared the story of a young boy who came to clinic alone due to the stigma his family was facing.

Third prize went to Saiuj Bhat for Gods and poor people in Boston: When the house of God becomes a country club . Saiuj was attracted to the shiny beacon of medicine that he had read about in the book T he House of God , however, Saiuj discovered the society around the hospital faced many challenges.

The WAMSS Elective Photography Competition allows students to display artistic talent and highlight important global health and sociocultural issues encountered on their placement.

Caleb Kim also won out the AMBOSS WAMSS Committee Prize for best photograph (pictured). Christopher Ng won The People’s Choice Awards with Saish Neppalli as runner up.

The Alan Charters Presentation Awards were established in 1998 and named in honour of Dr Alan Charters. Dr Charters practiced and taught medicine in East Africa and Western Australia, with a lifelong special interest in tropical medicine and parasitology.

The Awards are supported by Western Diagnostic Pathology and Dr Cathy O’Donovan.

Watch the presentations and see all the photos here . Watch the Q&A discussion and prize announcements here .

Media references

Lauren Humfrey (UWA Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences) (+61 8) 6488 2260

Kate McKenzie (UWA University Advancement) (+61 8) 6488 8542