Student Prize

Image courtesy of Charlie Clift
Adam Kay is an author, comedian and former doctor. He studied at Imperial College London, graduating in 2004, and worked as a registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology before leaving medicine to pursue a career in literature. His first book This Is Going To Hurt was a number one bestseller in the UK for over a year and has been adapted into a critically acclaimed BBC TV series. Kay is openly gay and married to James, a television producer.

Professor Zoë Playdon is the Emeritus Professor of Medical Humanities at the University of London and for 21 years was Professor and Head of Education at NHS Kent, Surrey and Sussex regional postgraduate medical Deanery. Her recent account of UK trans experience, The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes, won a Stonewall US Honor Award and is currently being adapted into a TV mini-series. A former co-chair of GLADD, Zoë co-founded the Parliamentary Forum on Gender Identity with Dr Lynne Jones MP in 1994. In 1996 she defeated the UK government in the European Court of Justice, restoring trans employment rights and providing a precedent has been extended to gay men and lesbians. She continues to write for prestigious publications, speaks internationally at conferences, lectures, in media interviews, and has advised top government departments.