Students get skilled at Cumberland Lodge conference

Ann Liljas talks about her experience of attending a graduate student conference at Cumberland Lodge.

Every year around 30 graduate students in the public health field are invited to a conference at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Park. This 3-day conference is organised for students by students to provide the opportunity to gain skills within various fields of health research, share ideas and get to know each other. Cumberland Lodge is part of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Foundation of St Catherine’s which was set up to provide a sympathetic ambience for students and their lecturers to develop and explore their studies, free of the pressures of time or assessment.

This year’s conference took place between 30 May to 1 June and the theme was Major Public Health Challenges Facing the UK. Three students from Primary Care and Population Health attended; Rosa Lau, Kethakie  Sumathipala and Ann Liljas. There were six sessions on a number of public health topics ranging from depression, cardiovascular disease and dementia to obesity, diabetes and cancer. Each session was delivered by an expert in the field from either UCL or another university in London. The speakers started by providing some background information on their particular topic and why it is an important public health issue. They then moved on to demonstrate what research has been done and what needs to be done to improve that particular health issue.

The conference really provided an opportunity to learn more about various public health issues and an opportunity for networking. Top 3 discussions at the conference included the associated between appetite and increased risk of obesity, why aspirin can reduced the risk of cancer, and the importance of considering other morbidities in people who already have a disease. If you want to find out more about these particular topics, take a look at the papers listed below which are based on studies undertaken by some of the presenters.

Llewellyn, C et al. 2010 Nature of nurture in infant appetite: analysis of the Gemini twin birth cohort. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 91(5):1172-1179 Access

Rothwell, PM et al. 2011 Effect of daily aspirin on long-term risk of death due to cancer: analysis of individual patient data from randomised trials. The Lancet. 377(9759):31-41 Access

Haddad, M et al. 2013 Detecting depression in patients with coronary heart disease: a diagnostic evaluation of the PHQ-9 and HADS-D in primary care, findings from the UPBEAT-UK study. PLoS One. 10;8(10):e78493 Access