Scientific and cultural presentations were on the programme of the Kerpel Talent Day held in the Semmelweis Salon with the participation of students involved in the Kerpel-Fronius Ödön Talent Support Programme. The support programme has been operating for 10 years now, and according to Dr. Ágoston Szél, rector it is one of the university’s most successful ventures which has greatly contributed to the university’s becoming a research university.
“One of my earliest studies was about the identification of the retina’s colour specific receptors with the help of safeners made for vision pigments, which I did not enjoy much at the beginning. However, it lead to my qualification as candidate and my doctoral thesis was also based on the results of this research. Therefore, the recipe for reaching your goals is to always be tenacious and persevering and keep believing in what you are doing.”, Dr. Ágoston Szél said.
Dr. György Fekete, President of the programme’s Talent Support Committee and Dr. Attila Szabó, secretary said that the programme became the member of the European Talent Support Network last year.
“More than 20 young talented students have joined the Kerpel-programme recently. From September the programme will be available for foreign students as well in English and German.”, Dr. György Fekete said.
Numerous scholarships and short trips spent abroad demonstrate the success of the programme. In the past 10 years, the programme has greatly contributed to the successful beginnings of careers. The programme in foreign languages is to be launched in 
September with the participation of Dr. Alán Alpár, Dr. Csaba Bödör, Dr. Andrea Fekete, Dr. András Kiss and Dr. Ákos Zsembery.
“The number of students participating in the programme has risen to over 140 who are assisted by more than a hundred mentors. By working closely together relationships are formed that can determine the future career of students.”, Dr. Attila Szabó said.
The opening speeches were followed by four scientific lectures presented by students of the Kerpel-Fronius Talent Support Programme. The lecture of Kristóf Molnár (PhD) was on “The development of new types of biocompatible polymeric strings for medical and biological use”. Dr. Zsombor Tóth-Vajna (PhD) spoke about the screening of peripheral artery diseases in lower limbs in a family medicine setting. The presentation of Dávid Juriga (PhD) was about “Biodegradation and in vitro cell cultures on gels based on polyaspartic acid. Márton Keszthelyi (Faculty of Medicine, Year 5) spoke about the new surgical indications of varicocele and the comparison of the types of surgeries. The cultural programme included narrative and musical performances by Ivett Nimol Sepp (Faculty of Medicine, Year 1), Dr. Zsombor Tóth (PhD), Klaudia Kovács (Kovács , Year 4) and Ágnes Pósa (Faculty of Health Sciences).
Eszter Keresztes
Photo: Attila Kovács – Semmelweis University
Translation: Ágnes Raubinek
