The reputation and high esteem of our annual Scottish Paediatric Society St Andrew’s Day Symposium were evident in the exceptional attendance at the 2025 meeting, held at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
This was further reflected in a record number of high quality abstract submissions received in advance of the event. On the day I felt a sense of genuine pride as retired President observing the breadth of experience represented in the room, ranging from the enthusiasm of medical students embarking on their career journeys to the invaluable insight and shared experience of senior colleagues and longstanding friends.
Before going any further, I would like to recognise the hard work and tireless dedication of our wonderful SPS committee who organised this event, in particular to our wonderful secretary, Dr Lana O’Hara. A special mention also to Dr Gulshan Malik, our new President who was unable to attend on the day due to unforeseen circumstances. Thank you to Dr Philippa Wood as our host and for stepping in as chair in Dr Malik’s absence.
The programme remained true to its aim of fostering learning, networking and excellence in paediatric care, incorporating its well established format of medical student and trainee research, audit, clinical case presentations, delivered through both oral sessions and poster displays.
Dr Olivia Swan, Senior Clinical Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh delivered a fascinating Climate Change presentation – Homes, Heat and Healthy Kids Study – on making homes more energy efficient and how this affects the risk of preschool respiratory infections. We were also delighted to welcome Professor Steve Turner, RCPCH President and past SPS President who updated us on the work of RCPCH and later in the day delivered the Charles McNeil guest lecture, presenting the impact of research data from Scotland which informs how we may successfully transform inpatient paediatric services.
The day’s programme came to a close with the prize presentations, including PAFTAs. The consistently high standard throughout of the medical student and trainee presentations made the selection of prize winners in each category an unenviable task and then an overall winner was chosen. This was Dr Megan MacPherson, Specialist Trainee in Public Health Medicine who presented work being done by the Pan-Ayrshire Youth Vaping Taskforce.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and for supporting the Scottish Paediatric Society. Please take the opportunity to have a look through the rest of the SPS website which includes a section on membership.