This generous gift comes from the Read-Gostick Education Fund and honours the legacy of Professor Raymond C. Read, a distinguished Selwyn College alumnus, and his wife of 64 years, Lillian J. Gostick. 

Before and during World War II, the late Raymond C. Read (Selwyn 1941) clung to the promise of education to overcome personal hardships and fought an individual battle for knowledge, community, and stability. His tenacity, resilience, and keen intellect helped him build a thriving career as a renowned thoracic surgeon, create a rich family life, and leave a lasting and inspiring legacy across medicine and education. Dr Read and his wife were the first in their extended families to attend university. 

Now, the educational foundation Dr Read and his wife created is providing a studentship for a PhD student at the University of Cambridge's Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute and Selwyn College. This endowment ensures that future generations of researchers will have the opportunity to contribute to important areas of health research, continuing the legacy of academic excellence and global impact embodied by the late Raymond C. Read MD PhD. 

Raymond Read was able to defer his military service because he was enrolled at Selwyn, but saw one brother killed and the other wounded and disabled in World War II. After the war and subsequent to receiving his MD, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight surgeon.   

The Trustee of the Read-Gostick Education Fund, Jennifer S. Read MD, the daughter of Raymond and Lillian Read, reflects, “My father felt extremely lucky. He knew his fate would have been the same as his brothers if he hadn’t received a scholarship from Selwyn. In the context of the horrors of war and tragic personal loss, the University and Selwyn became his family and community. The inspiration behind the gift for the studentship is simply this very strong connection that my father felt towards Cambridge and specifically Selwyn, and his gratitude for the education that fundamentally changed his life.”  

Professor Jennifer Read noted that both of her parents prized the value and fulfilment of education and wanted to encourage and support similar opportunities for others, and “I think they would have appreciated the studentship’s inception, with its connection to Selwyn and to the University as a whole.” She hopes that the studentship will provide an opportunity for young people who want to pursue a PhD degree and are as passionate about the pursuit of knowledge as her father was. 

Professor Charlotte Summers, Director of the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute and Fellow of Selwyn College, expressed her appreciation:

"We are immensely grateful to the Read-Gostick Education Fund for this gift, which not only honours Dr Raymond C. Read's remarkable legacy but also reinforces the commitment of Selwyn and the VPD-HLRI to nurturing the next generation of leaders in medical research. The PhD studentship will act to further strengthen the VPD-HLRI as a leading centre for epidemiology, global health, and infection-related research”.