News

Durham student helps to make a brighter future

(24 October 2005)

Psychology student, Jennifer Burt, has carried out vital research during her summer holidays to help patients with chronic liver disease.

Jennifer has proved 70% of people with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) suffer from chronic fatigue leading to memory loss. Now the doctors she worked with have won a £200,000 grant to research ways of combating the symptoms and improving life for the patients.

Her research has gained her a nomination for the undergraduate category of the Evening Chronicle’s Young Achievers awards.

Dr Julia Newton, a consultant at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, who supervised Jennifer said: “What Jennifer has achieved is amazing. Her work has changed the way we will treat patients and I’m confident we will find a way to tackle the fatigue which is having such an effect on their lives.”

“We are hoping that after Jennifer finishes her degree she will be able to come and work with us full-time to help find ways to tackle the fatigue.”

As part of her study Jennifer interviewed 40 patients from the North East, she then tested their memory, attention span and alertness. Her research found sufferers are affected by long-term fatigue. The results of her work will be published in the medical journal Gut and will help change the way PBC patients are treated around the world.

Source: Evening Chronical, 15 October