An Aberdeen cancer scientist is taking her research to the United States after winning a prestigious scholarship.
Dr Georgina Hold will spend 11 months at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, to continue her investigations into bowel cancer.
Hold, from the University of Aberdeen’s Institute of Medical Sciences, will work with academics to further her findings into the role of bacteria in the development of the disease.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common type of the disease in the UK, affecting over 40,000 people a year.
Dr Hold said there was an “unusually high” prevalence of the disease in the north-east.
Dr Hold added: “I am honoured to receive this scholarship which will rallow me the opportunity to work collaboratively with other experts at the Harvard School of Public Health to further develop and maximise the output of my research.
“The objective of my work is to understand the impact of microbes in human diseases. My main focus is colorectal cancer, the incidence of which is unusually high in the North East of Scotland.”
She added: “Developing greater understanding in this area could help in the future development of therapeutic strategies to maintain health, which will help protect the body against disease.”
Dr Hold secured the opportunity through a transatlantic scholarship scheme, run by the US-UK Fulbright Commission.
The Commission is part of a programme, founded by Senator J William Fulbright in the aftermath of World War II aiming to promote leadership, learning and empathy between nations through shared education.
A range of famous faces have previously studied through the commission including, economist and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, former Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, and Scottish crime novelist Ian Rankin.
