Professor Yvonne Carter, Dean of Warwick Medical School, has won the national Science Award at this year's CBI Real Business First Women Awards ceremony which took place on Wednesday 7 June 2006 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

The awards recognise women who are trailblazers and pioneers in business. They also recognise women whose achievements or 'firsts' and individual actions have helped, or are helping, to remove barriers and open up opportunities for others to follow.

As Dean of Warwick Medical School, Yvonne has made her mark on what remains an essentially male preserve. She is only the second female dean of a UK medical school, the first dean to have a background in academic general practice and one of the youngest members of the Council of Heads of Medical Schools. She is responsible for an operation of considerable size and complexity, managing a devolved budget of around £20 million and acting as academic lead for 260 staff, 630 medical students and over 2000 postgraduate students.

When she arrived at Warwick in 2003 she inherited a fledgling Medical School. She identified a development programme for the School and made a series of high quality appointments to key positions and has also restructured the School with clearly identified Institutes and a challenging long-term strategy that includes a commitment to medical research of international significance.

Yvonne has an established track record of expertise and achievement in health services research. She has published 25 authored-books and edited works and is author of over 70 academic journal papers. She is currently joint principal investigator of two UK evaluations of Living with Cancer and Palliative Care initiatives. In 2000 she received an OBE for services to health service research.

The First Women Awards, now in their second year, aim to reveal a new generation of role models whether they are young entrepreneurs or low-profile pioneers of larger businesses who have broken new ground in business life. The economy needs to have more women who want to go into business or own businesses. To encourage the future generations of women to enter the business world the awards recognise those women who are being successful and are achieving that success on their own terms. There were ten categories at this year's Awards - Business Services, Finance, Manufacturing, Media, Retail & Property, Science, Technology, Tourism & Leisure, First Women Corporate Award and PWC Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sir Digby Jones, director-general, CBI and chair of the Judging panel said:

"I want women to feel that every rung on every ladder is within their reach in the world of business. It is vital that schools drive ambition and nurture aspiration in young girls, and make it absolutely clear that any dizzying height is attainable - but it is also business' responsibility to recognise and celebrate the talents that women are bringing to the Boardroom. That is what these awards are all about."