Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Warwick alumnus receives a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to the US

David Metcalfe with Peter Winstanley, Dean of Warwick Medical SchoolDavid Metcalfe, an alumnus and Academic Clinical Fellow in Trauma and Orthopaedics at Warwick Medical School has been awarded a Royal College of Surgeons of England Fulbright Award that will support twelve months of research at Harvard University on one of the most prestigious and selective scholarship programmes operating worldwide.

The US-UK Fulbright Commission is the only bilateral, transatlantic scholarship programme, offering awards and summer programmes for study or research in any field, at any accredited US or UK university. The Commission is part of the Fulbright programme conceived by Senator J William Fulbright in the aftermath of World War II to promote leadership, learning and empathy between nations through educational exchange. Award recipients and summer programme participants will be the future leaders for tomorrow and support the “special relationship” between the US and UK.

David has been selected from a strong applicant pool to examine outcomes for severely injured patients in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. He will spend his time as a Fulbright Scholar working at the Center for Surgery and Public Health (CSPH), which is a joint initiative of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. The CSPH is based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, which employs 3,300 researchers and has a combined annual income of over £280 million. David will work under the guidance of Professor Ali Salim MD FACS, who is the Division Chief of Trauma, Burns, and Surgical Critical Care.

Commenting on receiving the award, David said: “This scholarship is an opportunity for the NHS to draw on the experiences of other countries that have been managing severely injured patients in dedicated ‘trauma centres’ for many years. It is also a personal opportunity to learn more about the United States and a model of healthcare that is still very different from our own”.

The Commission selects scholars through a rigorous application and interview process. In making these awards the Commission looks not only for academic excellence but a focused application, a range of extracurricular and community activities, demonstrated ambassadorial skills, a desire to further the Fulbright Programme and a plan to give back to the recipient’s home country upon returning.

Typical grants include a maintenance allowance and a contribution towards tuition fees where applicable. In addition, Fulbright scholars receive a distinctive support and cultural education programme including: visa processing, a comprehensive pre-departure orientation, enrichment opportunities in country, a re-entry session and opportunity to join our alumni networks.

Notes for Editors

Scholar Bio:

David Metcalfe holds first class degrees in Biological Sciences (Warwick, 2006) and Law (Open, 2011) as well as an MSc in Surgical Science with distinction (Edinburgh, 2012). He is currently training to be a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire.

David qualified as a doctor from Warwick Medical School in 2010 and won the Pridgeon Gold Medal for Scholarship at graduation. He trained at St George’s Hospital in London before taking up a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Fellowship in Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery affiliated with the University of Warwick. His research is concerned with the organization of trauma services and improving outcomes for the most severely injured patients. This work has won prizes from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, British Journal of Surgery, and the Royal Society of Medicine.

As a Fulbright Scholar, David will work with Professor Ali Salim MD FACS at Harvard Medical School to explore international differences in outcomes for major trauma patients.

Press enquiries

For press enquiries, contact:

Jamie Dunn
Communication Officer and Educational Advisor
0207 498 4020
press@fulbright.org.uk

About the US-UK Fulbright Commission:

The US-UK Fulbright Commission was created by treaty on 22 September 1948. The Fulbright Programme aims to foster mutual cultural understanding through educational exchange between the US and the UK. This it achieves through its Awards programme for US and UK citizens and through its Advisory Service. The Fulbright Commission offers grants at postgraduate and postdoctoral level for study in any discipline and at any accredited institution in the US and UK, as well as a number of special exchanges programmes for shorter projects or for younger scholars. It is funded by a range of partners including leading US and UK universities, charities and both governments.

About the Fulbright Awards Programme:

Each year, the Commission supports around UK and US citizens to study, lecture, conduct research or focus on professional development at leading institutions in the US and UK respectively. Nearly 300,000 extraordinary women and men from all over the world have had their lives changed as participants in the Fulbright Programme. Of these alumni, approximately 15,000 UK nationals have studied in the US and nearly 12,000 US nationals in the UK on our educational exchange programmes.

Notable alumni of the US-UK Commission include:

  • Malcolm Bradbury, novelist
  • Liam Byrne, politician
  • Milton Friedman, economist and Nobel Prize Winner 1976
  • Charles Kennedy, politician
  • John Lithgow, actor
  • Tarik O’Regan, composer
  • Sylvia Plath, poet
  • Lord William Wallace, politician
  • Ian Rankin, novelist
  • Sir Christopher Rose QC, judge
  • Baroness (Shirley) Williams, politician
  • Vanessa Heaney, journalist BBC World Service
  • Toby Young, journalist and playwright