Jen and Alison's Trotternish Ridge Race for UHI's MyMelanoma research

Participants: Jen Vanderhoven and Alison Wilson
Participants: Jen Vanderhoven and Alison Wilson
Trotternish Ridge Race · 4 June 2022
Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page. Jen and Alison are fundraising for MyMelanoma research at UHI, our staff charity of the year, in memory of a key member of the university's health research team.
Dr Sharon Hutchison was a colleague in our melanoma research group at UHI. She was researching the genetic predisposition to melanoma and how the genomic changes within melanomas influenced the body's immune response to them. Sharon was an excellent, thorough and enthusiastic researcher who was not only very dedicated to her projects, but also to promoting sun safety and active skin checks in public forums.
Sharon was herself diagnosed with a cutaneous melanoma at the start of 2019, which arose from an existing mole on her neck. Her melanoma was particularly aggressive and despite receiving the most up-to-date treatment options, she died at the end of December 2019. Sharon is a much missed member of UHI's melanoma research team.
MyMelanoma (https://www.mymelanoma.org/) is a new initiative that is aiming to recruit a large number of people who have been diagnosed with a melanoma, in order to answer the questions most important to patients. This is an ambitious and exciting new study that will be the largest melanoma research project undertaken in the UK. The first study to take place at UHI as part of MyMelanoma will focus on the genetic predisposition to melanoma, asking the question: why are some people more likely to develop a melanoma? The funds raised here will be specifically towards this research project at UHI, a study Sharon would have been working on herself.
The University of the Highlands and Islands' mission is to have a transformational impact on the prospects of our region, its economy, its people and its communities.
Charities pay a small fee for our service. Learn more about fees