RSU Annual Awards 2023 presented in nine categories

Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) has a tradition of celebrating the achievements and performance of its best students, staff members, and structural units who have contributed to research, academic affairs, or to popularising RSU. This is done at the RSU Annual Awards ceremony, which also includes a Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, the nine categories of awards were presented on 9 September at the RSU Academic Ball that took place at the Riga Latvian Society House. The RSU Alumni Association presented a special award.

• Student of the Year – Laura Līpenīte, 6th year, Medicine programme. Līpenīte received the award for her outstanding achievements and active community work.
• Master’s Student of the Year – Linda Muižniece-Slesare, 2nd year, Art Therapy programme. Muižniece-Slesare received the award for her outstanding academic performance and active engagement in research.
• Doctoral Student of the Year – Ance Bārzdiņa, 1st year, Health Care programme, Pharmacy sub-programme. Bārzdiņa is an outstanding young researcher who participates in both Latvian and international projects, works as a lecturer and successfully supervises students' research papers.
• Resident of the Year – Māris Lapšovs, 1st year medical resident, Residency in Medicine programme, cardiology speciality. Lapšovs received the award for his outstanding academic performance and his active engagement in research and academic work.
• Lecturer of the Year – Aina Semjonova, Acting Assistant at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy. Students consider Semjonova to be an outstanding lecturer who encourages each student's passion for their specialty, is supportive, empathetic and puts her heart and soul into her work.
• Researcher of the Year – Dace Zavadska, Professor at the Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine. Prof. Zavadska’s active participation in clinical research and large-scale international projects, scientific publications and publicity in the media contribute to the recognition of RSU as a place, that nurtures scientists. Her research interests include immunisation, vaccination, and paediatric infectious diseases.
• This year, the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Ilga Urtāne, Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Dentistry. Prof. Urtāne is the author and co-author of numerous scientific publications, has participated in both international and local projects, regularly participates in scientific conferences, clinical courses, and seminars and introduces best practices and the latest methods to the Orthodontic Clinic of the RSU Institute of Stomatology.

• This year, as two units received the same number of votes, the annual award for Structural Unit of the Year went to the Medical Educational Technology Centre (METC) and the RSU Anatomy Museum. The RSU METC is the only simulation centre in Latvia and the largest in the Baltics that has the appropriate infrastructure and equipment to provide skills training and development, as well as simulation programmes in various healthcare sectors. The Anatomy Museum received the award for getting RSU into the list of the world’s best medical museums, raising the university's bar of excellence, and for combining art, research, and history at such a high level as to be of interest to the general public.
• Employee of the Year – Andreta Slavinska, Deputy Director of the RSU METC. Slavinska received the award for her contribution to the development of the METC.

The RSU Alumni Association Award was also presented at the ceremony to express appreciation to outstanding RSU graduates who are active in supporting their alma mater after graduation. The award was presented to political scientist and social anthropologist Mārtiņš Daugulis, who is the Head of the Department of Political Science and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of European Studies and who works hard to popularise the university abroad.