The grant of over £4,000 supported 12 'scholarships' for students at St Benet Biscop High School and Bedlingtonshire Community High School to attend the recent Mini Medical School held at the Centre for Life in conjunction with Newcastle University's Medical School. Students gathered to say thanks to MSD for supporting their mini medical studies.
Students attended the Mini Medical School late last year and planning has now begun for next year's Mini Medical School sessions. This successful programme provides a series of evening sessions for members of the public featuring Newcastle University academics talking about their research in areas such as diabetes and skin cancer as well as neurology and healthy ageing.
This donation forms part of Merck & Co., Inc.'s (Merck) International Neighbour of Choice Programme, supporting projects based in the area of the company's facilities. The MSD Cramlington plant is a key strategic site for Merck and manufactures tablets and finished packs for worldwide markets.
"MSD Cramlington is delighted to partner with Newcastle University Medical School and to bring this funding to the students of the North East. We hope this link with the Medical School will be the first of many initiatives together", said Martin Inskip, Senior Director of Operations at MSD Cramlington.
Professor Suzanne Cholerton, Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the Medical School said: "We are most grateful to MSD for choosing to support the Mini Medical School in this way. As Newcastle celebrates the 175th Anniversary of the founding of the original medical school, it is fitting that we are now working closely with members of the public and local schools to engage them in the hugely important research work that is currently carried out in the Medical School."
About the Medical School
The Medical School is currently celebrating the 175th Anniversary since the founding of the original College of Surgery and Medicine in the Manors area of Newcastle upon Tyne. Since then, Newcastle has grown to be one of the UK's leading medical schools and a globally recognised centre for research in cancer, genetics, ageing, the bio-sciences and clinical research.
www.ncl.ac.uk/1834
About MSD
Established in 1975, the MSD Cramlington site is one of Merck & Co., Inc.'s key tablet manufacturing and packaging sites worldwide and is regarded as on of the world's most advanced technological pharmaceutical sites. The site employs almost 400 people.
Merck & Co., Inc., of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, USA and Schering-Plough have now completed their merger in the US and are in the process of forming a new global organisation called 'Merck' in the US and Canada and 'MSD' in the rest of the world. Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited is a subsidiary of Merck operating in the UK. Through our medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and consumer and animal products, Merck and its affiliates work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. For more information on Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited, please visit www.msd-uk.co.uk.