Dr Mo Sacoor MRCP

Scholarship Programme

Providing a life changing opportunity

DEC 2016 | Third Edition

The Dr Mo Sacoor MRCP Scholarship Programme funds six schemes and has a vision to support over

1,000 students at Sheffield. To date, the programme has supported a remarkable 157 individuals.

The programme is now in its third

year and has had a

transformational impact on the

lives of students studying at

Sheffield.

Ensuring that talented students

from all backgrounds have access

to higher education and engage

with all the extra curricular

activities that University can

provide is not only life-changing

for the individual - it is essential

for the UK.

Dr Mo Sacoor is helping us to

provide more scholarships than

ever before and the University of

Sheffield is incredibly grateful for

his continued commitment and

generosity.

We hope you enjoy reading more

about the difference the

programme has made in this latest

report.

For more information and to stay up to date please visit:

www.facebook.com/mosacoorscholarshipprogramme

www.sheffield.ac.uk/alumni/donate/specialfunds/drmosacoorscholarships

Programme Overview

Medical Scholarships

The Medical Scholarships are awarded to first year medical students on the basis of financial need. 15 awards were made in the 2015/16 academic year. Here’s what in means in their own words.

Ella Kulman

Joshua Thomas

Medical Scholarships

Kai Scott-Bridge

Charlotte Hayes

Music Scholarships

Dr Mo Sacoor has established two

awards in the Department of Music one

to support music students with

financial assistance and the other to

recognise outstanding performance

skills. In 2015-16 the programme

awarded 4 music scholarships and 3

performance scholarships.

The Dr Mo Sacoor Prize Winners

Concert this year took place in Firth

Hall on the 18th April. There were

spectacular performances from

Hannah Crawford (soprano), Matt

Jacobson (clarinet) and Tom Rigby

(alto saxophone). We were also

delighted that so many of Mo’s scholars

from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry

and Health joined us for the concert

and the drinks reception afterwards.

Join our facebook page for details of

next year’s concert:

www.facebook.com/mosacoorscho

larshipprogramme

“Thank you so much for your enormous generosity and kindness

in awarding me a performance scholarship. Your support has

meant the world and has given me additional opportunities to

perform which I otherwise would not have had. I am currently

involved in a myriad of different projects, including the “Forgotten

Songs of Lerner and Loewe” in May. I hope you are well and I wish

you all the best.”

Hannah Crawford

This award supports medical students who have been involved in research to attend and present their

research at national and international meetings. To date, 18 students have been supported to attend

conferences, providing them with the valuable opportunity to develop their skills, network and

showcase their hard work.

Sasan Panbehchi, Research Presentation Scholarship 2016 My name is Sasan Panbehchi a 4th year medical student. I am looking to pursue a career in neurosurgery in the future. Neurosurgery is hugely competitive. During a placement I did at the Neurosurgery Department last year, I learned that neurosurgery is a very academically-orientated specialty with many of the consultant neurosurgeons and registrars actively doing research on top of their clinical commitments.

Since then I tried to get actively involved in research. I feel having an early exposure to the world of research in neurosurgery would help me to hit the ground running with a future specialisation in neurosurgery.

After completing the write-up of a case series I decided to present my work at a neurosurgery orientated student conference called NANSIG Neurosurgery Careers Day 2016 in London. It was a fantastic experience. Attending this conference allowed me to find out about the research of other colleagues and listen to talks given by people with cutting edge research in their field.

In addition I had the opportunity to find valuable networks whom I contacted later on for further placements. I also believe seeing other students with similar interests further motivated me to get more involved in research and hopefully present more papers in the future conferences.

I took this experience further and later on in May 2016 I presented a poster in an international conference in Singapore.

Research Presentation

“I would like to take this

opportunity to thank you hugely for

generously funding this scholarship

programme. This scholarship

definitely motivated me to get more

involved in research as well as

helping me to get closer to my

future goal of becoming a

neurosurgeon.”

Jonathan Simpson, Research Presentation Scholarship 2016

During my Phase 3a student selected component, I spent 6 weeks in orthopaedic theatre (mainly arthroplasty) recording the intraoperative decibel levels during procedures. I then applied and was accepted to present my research at the British Hip Society Annual Meeting in Norwich in March 2016. The meeting was spread across three days (Wednesday - Friday), and my presentation was at 12 noon during the third session on the main day (Thursday). I had prepared a PowerPoint presentation and rehearsed the 5 minute talk many times, including with my supervisor Mr Andrew Hamer. I was uncharacteristically very nervous on the Thursday morning before, and during, the talk; this was mainly because the audience was made up of great, senior orthopaedic consultants and registrars from all over Britain, all with specific, professional interests in arthroplasty. Despite the nerves, I gave a strong presentation on the dangerously high noise levels associated with the use of powered, orthopaedic tools in theatre. I really enjoyed the experience of giving a presentation to a top calibre audience. My talk went down very well with the audience members as it was entertaining, interesting and relevant to all. Many consultants came up to me afterwards to congratulate me on the presentation and its delivery. I met the Vice President of the Association of Perioperative Practice who was interested in the area of surgical noise-induced hearing loss and was keen to publish my work in the Journal of Perioperative Practice. I also made an invaluable contact with an arthroplasty practitioner from London who was very kind and talkative; she praised my work and the talk. Another consultant provided me with some relevant information regarding a potential preventative measure. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn from the orthopaedic meeting, and to meet many consultants and registrars. The dinner on the Thursday night was excellent, and allowed me to get to know the Sheffield registrars and consultants in more detail and in a more relaxed setting. The train journeys each way also enabled me to integrate into the Sheffield arthroplasty team. The meeting was held in a lovely church with many adjoining halls. Norwich city centre was beautiful and charming. Doing this presentation has furthered my enthusiasm for orthopaedics, and has enhanced my desire and determination to pursue a career in this field. This talk will form the basis of a section on my orthopaedic portfolio which I shall use at interviews for registrar posts; thus, the presentation and the meeting were fantastic experiences that will also be extremely valuable for my future applications to specialty training.

Research Presentation

“I would like to thank you Dr Sacoor for your generosity in providing funds to help me to

attend the meeting. The scholarship scheme you have set up is fantastic and will

hopefully continue to help students, like myself, to further their medical research

experiences.”

Medical Electives

The medical electives can be a transformational experience for medical students. Often taken aboard –

it is a valuable opportunity to learn more about oneself; to explore different skills, specialisms and

cultures; and to be inspired. The Dr Mo Sacoor MRCP Medical Elective Scholarships provide bursaries

to students who have demonstrated exceptional enthusiasm, planning and commitment towards their

elective. This year we supported 14 students to go on their electives.

Stanley Cousins - Jordon Red Crescent Hospital, Jordon I decided to undertake my elective in Jordon to experience the realities of refugee healthcare provision. Jordon has one of the largest refugee populations in the world. In fact of a population of just over 8 million at least 1.2 million are refuges from Syria or Iraq and over 3 million were at one time refuges from Palestine with just over 2 million still holding refugee status. The placement was based at the Jordon Red Crescent in a hospital they had established in Amman, the capital of Jordon. My career ambitions are to work with organisations such as MSF or the Red Cross/Crescent therefore gaining experience of how these organisations function before I begin my medical career gives me the experience to know if working in such institutions is something that I could cope with. The majority of my time was spent attending the Syrian refugee GP clinic at the Hospital. Here I shadowed two young doctors who were providing primary care to 40-50 patients a day. What struck me was that although many of these patients has faced untold hardship in Syria and during their flight out of the country and although many of them lived in cramped and squalid conditions the majority of disease burden was as a result of chronic illnesses as it was in the UK. Although the Jordon Red Crescent Hospital has a maternity unit, a haemodialysis centre and an orthopaedic ward and operating theatre I did not get the chance to spend much time anywhere other than the Syrian GP clinic. Due to my difficulties in accessing all aspects of care provided I decided to get in touch with another hospital in order to get a broader experience. I also wanted to see the different elements of Jordanian healthcare. Jordanian healthcare is split amongst many different sectors with charities taking almost sole responsibility for the refugee populations.

Jordanian nationals generally access healthcare through private hospitals funded by themselves, personal insurances or insurances provided by their employer. I spent three weeks at a privately owned hospital called Luzmilla hospital. Although Luzmilla was smaller than the Red Crescent Hospital it provided a larger number of services. The discrepancies between the two hospitals was quite remarkable with Luzmillia being much more comparable with the quality of care provided by the NHS in the UK. At the Red Crescent many investigations weren’t available and it was a case of doing the best with the supplies they had. Luzmilla Hospital provide a large spectrum of surgeries and the quality was generally very high and I got to observe rhinoplasties with the use of induced hypothermia to limit blood loss. This was fascinating and skilfully done. Not all operations performed were at the cutting edge of medicine however. I scrubbed in for a TURP and having seen them done in Sheffield I thought I knew what I was in for. However there was no camera attached to the resectoscope and instead the surgeon put his eye to the external end of the resectoscope and looked down it to get a view of what he was resecting. Throughout the operation there were examples of bad practice but it felt to me like one of the best learning experiences as it demonstrated how rapidly medicine can advance and improve. I am so glad I decided to do my elective in Jordon as I met some inspiring people whilst out here. It also confirmed my desire to work for an organisation like Red Cross or MSF in the future. I developed a greater understanding of what it is really like to go on a mission. This was invaluable to me.

Rowena Johnson - Cook County Trauma Unit, Chicago I have been interested in the management of major trauma since a trauma focussed anaesthetics, intensive care and emergency department based rotation at North Bristol Trauma Centre for my 3a SSC. I was therefore looking to spend my elective at a major trauma unit aboard where I could see a much greater volume of trauma than in the UK Emergency Departments. The Cook County Trauma Unit, located at Stroger Hospital, Chicago is the third busiest Level 1 Trauma Centre in the United States. Almost 35% of admissions are secondary to penetrating trauma and more than 10% of patients require operative intervention. Whilst the majority of UK trauma is blunt secondary to falls or road traffic accidents, a considerable proportion of patients I saw presented with gun shot wounds or stab wounds. Once every three days I started a thirty hour shift, during which time I was based in the trauma resus and leant about the initial assessment and work-up of a wide range of blunt and penetrating trauma. Though there were fewer opportunities for clinical skills than I was expecting, I was allowed to perform the femoral stabs for bloods and ABGs and also assisted in intubation, needle decompression and chest drain insertions. One of the highlights was performing the chest compressions during a resuscitative thoracotomy. Following termination of resuscitation, I was talked through the thoracotomy and taught how to cross clamp the aorta, before being able to practice suturing by closing the thoracotomy incision. The trauma unit is also the site of one the USA’s major burn centres. I was able to see the initial management of a wide range of burns as well as serious blast injuries and traumatic amputations caused by fireworks over the 4th July. I spent two days on the burn ICU during which

time I assisted the nurses in dressing changes of major burns. I found the attitude of doctors to be so different from many in the UK, both in terms of how many hours they were willing to work each week and in the extent to which they managed patients before asking for senior assistance. Although residents and students were given one day off every seven days, it was common for residents to choose to attend work on days off. Despite this, I felt a very high level care was being provided the majority of the time. The majority of new trauma was assessed as a team and this meant that there was little chance of a mistake occurring and also provided plenty of opportunities for the chief residents to teach the more junior doctors. For more difficult resuscitations the trauma fellow or attending also attended, guided the management and provided advice to the residents treating the patients. One of the obvious differences between the USA and UK healthcare is the USA health insurance system and the high cost of treatment for patients. However, Stroger is a county funded hospital and therefore runs not-for-profit. Where possible it charges patient insurance for care, but it also receives funding from government, which allows it to treat the many patients in the Cook County area who do not have insurance. This meant that the trauma unit did not have as many resources available as some private hospitals but is also meant that all patients, regardless of their wealth or insurance status, received the necessary treatment. This placement is likely to have a major impact on my future career as a doctor. I really enjoyed the placement , it was an exciting unit to work at and I will not have the opportunity to see that volume or range of trauma whilst working in the UK.

Fatima Hashi - Sarawark State, Malaysia

I spent my elective placement in Sarawak state in Malaysia with a focus on obstetrics and gynaecology. I was given the opportunity to visit two different hospitals as well as a rural clinic. One of the most surprising things I found in my weeks at Sarawak General Hospital was how similar it was to a UK obstetrics and gynaecology department. Much of the management was the same and NICE guidelines as well as the Royal College of Obstetrics were almost identical to the guidelines being used in Sarawak General Hospital. In the hospital I found English was spoken between health professionals but Malay was used to communicate with patients. Being excluded from part of the conversation gave me an insight into what patients must deal with when medical professionals speak in medical jargon. I attended many different clinics and had the opportunity to witness procedures that I hadn’t seen such as external cephalic version which although I had have heard of had never seen. I also spent time at the ASAP Clinic which was the first access to medical services for thousands of patients. The demographic of the area was made up of a variety of different native ethnic tribes who predominantly lived in longhouses. A longhouse is a tradition of the native tribes of Sarawak where all extended family live in a large one level structure that stretches out vertically. Many long houses are up to 8 hours away by car from the hospital and the most remote areas can only be seen by health professionals on a two-month basis by helicopter. The poor access to hospital is why the clinic was so important to the local people. The polyclinic itself was somewhere between a GP service and a small hospital. They had an A&E area as well as midwifes and a place for deliveries. However, there were only three doctors who worked there and resources were very limited with only three vehicles for transport. Despite delivery room and midwives, they were ill equipped for any emergency situations with no obstetricians and no resources for blood

transfusions. For the above reasons any women who had risk factors for a more complicated delivery was put in accommodation closer to the hospital from 36 weeks onwards. Although many women still delivered in the clinic there was no data on the rate of maternal death or infant mortality. The lack of data makes it hard to know the scale of the problem and this is also true for the number of deaths that go unreported in rural areas during child birth. An example of this was one of the doctors who had been on a flying visit went to see a pregnant women on his list only to find she had already delivered a still born some time ago and had already buried the child. The Bintulu Hospital was smaller than General Sarawak Hospital but allowed a more hands on approach for elective students where I was able to assist in C-sections and deliveries. My first delivery was a young woman from the Iban tribe who was having her second child. The delivery was relatively simple and the doctor talked me through what I needed to do and then allowed me to deliver the child. This was a completely different experience to observing a delivery and something I will always remember. After this I was able to get involved in more deliveries and on an occasion was also assisting in suturing the stitches after a woman had an episiotomy. Undertaking my elective placement in such a different part of the world has been a truly worthwhile experience and one which will impact my future career in medicine. Not only did I leave with more knowledge and clinical skills but I also gained an understanding of how societal views and attitudes have an impact on how medicine is practiced. My time at the polyclinic also gave me an appreciation of public health issues and an understanding that even if there is free healthcare with talented doctors and nurses available if they are not accessible to patients they will not benefit from them.

Left: Fatima with the midwives and other students. Right: Poster inside the Maternity Ward at Bintulu Hospital

Sheffield Connections

The Sheffield Connections events are designed to provide a small group of students with the opportunity to meet a University of Sheffield graduate in an informal, relaxed setting over tea and cake. Students are able to ask questions about the graduate's time at Sheffield and career, as well as discussing their own career options or University choices.

These events are a fantastic opportunity to learn where a degree from Sheffield can take you, receive tailored advice and develop networking skills.

In April this year Dr Sacoor took time out of his busy schedule to host this event and provided really helpful feedback to students who were considering starting their own businesses.

Football Whispers: Transfer predictor app

If you’re a football fan you will have probably already heard of Football Whispers - the world's first football predictor website and smartphone app. Developed by one of Dr Sacoor’s business ventures the app uses a complex algorithm to calculate the likelihood of a transfer taking place by pooling data from news sources and assigning a 'unique index score' which identifies the likelihood of a specific player signing for a particular club. The scored predictions are based on the volume of reports, the authority of the sources and the timeliness of the stories.

When Mo was looking for experts to help with the development of the analytics for the app he knew where to come. The Organisation, Information and Knowledge (OAK) group at the University of Sheffield's Department of Computer Science was a perfect fit. Led by Professor Fabio Ciravegna, OAK has developed the Football Whisper’s algorithm. As a result, Football Whispers is able to derive a unique insight into the global football transfer market thanks to a combination of data and visual analytics. Football Whispers has partnered with Sky Sports and FourFourTwo magazine to help power their respective transfer coverage with its unique rumour-scoring technology.

News & Events

“I really liked the way Mo explained about his journey and was not like the typical motivation talks that I have been to.” “I think I will read a lot more into the health sector and technology start ups, I liked the way he mentioned to do extensive research and work for the best in the field and become their apprentices.” “I would really like to say thank you to Mo Sacoor, though words can not quantify the insight and inspiration he gave me but he should know that I am really grateful for his time and warm nature that he spoke to us.”

In the next update report find out more about Dr Sacoor’s collaboration with Dr Farida Vis in the Information School and summer placements for students at digital marketing agency Klood, another of Dr Sacoor’s business ventures.

Development, Alumni Relations & Events

University of Sheffield

40 Victoria Street

Sheffield

S10 2TN

Email: e.davey@sheffield.ac.uk

Tel: 0114 222 4518

Fax: 0114 222 1044