Caroline Scobie wins Gillian Nicholls Prize for best dissertation
Congratulations to Caroline Scobie, who has been awarded this year’s Kellogg College Gillian Nicholls Prize for her MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care dissertation.
The Gillian Nicholls Prize is awarded annually to a Kellogg student for the best performance in the MSc in Evidence-Based Healthcare and is endowed by John Muddiman in memory of his late wife, Dr Gillian Nicholls, who undertook the MSc at Kellogg in 2002.
Caroline is a clinical vet who mainly treats cats and dogs. For her MSc project, she wanted to undertake research that would advance her learning about the process behind the evaluation of diagnostic tests within a veterinary context. For her dissertation, Caroline undertook a systematic review to determine the effectiveness of a new diagnostic test designed to detect chronic kidney disease in animals. The new diagnostic test measures symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), which is thought to identify chronic kidney disease (CKD) earlier than the more commonly used tests, which measure creatinine levels in the blood.
Caroline’s review of the research highlighted several issues with study design and emphasised the need for standardisation in research methods to better evaluate diagnostic tests. It also pointed out the potential risks of misdiagnosing healthy animals or diagnosing early-stage CKD where treatment benefits are unclear. As SDMA is already used in clinical practice, the review stresses the importance of properly assessing diagnostic tests before their widespread adoption, especially since veterinary diagnostic tests are not regulated.
Caroline explained, “This research is significant because systematic reviews in veterinary medicine are rare, and this study identified critical flaws in studies evaluating SDMA. Better research is needed to determine the test’s true accuracy and its applicability in real-world clinical settings.”
On receiving the award for her dissertation, Caroline expressed gratitude to her supervisor, Dr Annette Plüddemann, who supported her during the course of her study, as well as the many other members of academic and professional staff at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. She said, “The knowledge and enthusiasm I gained from the remarkable teaching during this MSc has fundamentally changed how I look at the world.”
Caroline Scobie (Photo courtesy of VetPartners Limited)