Profile

CV

• Education:

  I attended Rainhill High School based in Rainhill near Liverpool. During high school I became interested in science and particularly in chemistry and biology, which I studied at GCSE level along with languages.

  After high school, I attended Carmel Sixth form, based in St Helens. In sixth form I thought that I wanted to go on to study medicine at university, and so my A level subjects reflected this. However, after I attended an outreach day and learned more about what a career in medicine would be like, I realised that it wasn’t right for me. This was mostly because of the commitments and having to dedicate your life to your career.

  Following this, I pursued my interests in understanding how the science of living things worked. On the advice of my sixth form chemistry teacher, I applied to study Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, which I really enjoyed. 

  During my undergraduate degree I completed a research lab placement in the south of France and then went on to do a masters research project. Both of these helped me to see that I was interested not just in learning what is known, but in performing research to try and explore things that we don’t fully understand. That was the reason why I decided to study for a PhD.

• Qualifications:

  GCSE grades: Biology A*, Chemistry A*, Physics A*, Science A*, Mathematics A*, English Language A, English Literature A, French A*, Geography A, PE D*, IT D*, Resistant Materials A

  A Level Grades: Biology (A*), Chemistry, (A*) Maths (A), Psychology (AS level – B), Extended Project Qualification (A*)

  University degree: Undergraduate and Integrated Masters in Biochemistry (Upper Second Class)

  Postgraduate degree: PhD in Biomedical Sciences (Pass)

• Work History:

  Towards the end of my PhD, I had to produce a large piece of written work called a “thesis”, which explained what my PhD research was and why it was important. While doing this, I started working part time in a local hospital lab.

  When you go to a hospital for a test, that test isn’t always done by the doctors or other medical staff. Often, some sort of sample will be taken and sent to a hospital lab for processing. That test result can then be used by your medical team to help inform what sort of treatment you should have.

  Working in the hospital lab was great as it allowed me to see how the lab skills and knowledge that I developed in my PhD could be applied in the wider world, not just in research science.

• Current Job:

  During my PhD, I was occasionally looking into what jobs were out there that I might want to go into after I finished. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep working in a lab, and so one of the jobs I looked into was medical writing. I even attended an annual conference for people who were trying to get into medical writing where I spoke to people from loads of different companies about what the job and what the industry was like.

  In short, when companies develop a new medicine, they have to prove that it is safe and effective before they’re allowed to sell it. To do this, companies will perform clinical trials where the people with an illness volunteer to try the new medicine and see if it helps them. As a medical writer, you work for these medical companies to help them publish the results of clinical trials and help bring a new medicine to the market.

  After I finished my PhD, I started applying to medical writing jobs, and after many applications and several interviews with different companies, I received an offer.