The winners and runners-up essays of the Student Voice Prize 2024 are now available to read!
The Student Voice Prize is an annual, international essay competition in collaboration with Medics for Rare Disease. The aim is to raise the profile of rare diseases within the medical field, particularly with medical students, nurses and scientists who may have never come across rare diseases in their training.
Overall winner
Geena Capps
Essay title: Helping the medicine go down: the role of the healthcare professional in a young person’s experience of achalasia, a rare oesophageal motility disorder.
English as a second language winner
Sindhu Khanna
Essay title: Listening to the unheard, youth voices in rare disease policy: A personal perspective on Stargardt’s disease in India
Runner-up
Katie Whitcher
Essay title: Bridging the Gap: Addressing the Research Divide between Rare and Common Conditions
Runner-up
Lois Williams
Essay title: “I can hear you”: How Illness Perceptions Shape the Identity of Children with Rare Diseases
Runner-up
Rachel Fowden-Hulme
Policy Priorities? Accounting for Children with Rare Diseases in National and Global Health Policy
Link coming soon!
Read the essay summary here
The healthcare needs of children with rare diseases are often underserved in both national and global policy frameworks. Despite recent policy advancements, children and young people face significant disparities in access to care, financial support, and representation in medical research.
This essay evaluates current rare disease policies across different regions and levels, with a focus on national and global initiatives, clinical and economic challenges, and the impact of genomic research.
Through the case study of Ben, a young Welsh man with congenital panhypopituitarism, this essay will highlight the limitations of existing policies and the implications for children and young people with rare diseases.
We hope you enjoyed reading the winners and runners-up essays.
The Student Voice Prize will be returning later this year, watch this space!
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