Med student published

A University of Warwick student has had their blog published on a high-profile medical journal’s website.

Zoe Kristensen, a first-year student at Warwick Medical School (WMS), wrote the blog on the subject of discrimination towards transgender individuals and others in the NHS, and was published on _The Lancet Student._

The publication came about to raise the profile of WMS amongst science and medical publications, according to Kate Cox, Communications Manager for Warwick Medical School.

“_The Lancet_ was very keen to have a guest blogger from Warwick and Zoe was one of a number of students who responded to my request to come up with an interesting blog feature.” The specification was to write on a specific interest affecting the medical field.

Kristensen’s choice was to write about how a lack of discrimination towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals should be a necessity for the modern day health service.

She stated in her blog that it is “reported that 1 in 6 transgender individuals have faced discrimination at the hands of medical ‘professionals’ within the NHS,” which Kristensen blames more on a lack of education than actual spite.

Kristensen played down any sense of individual achievement, stating that the “real story here is that attention has been drawn to this area and hopefully this will help to instigate a much-needed change.”