I can trace my interest in global health back to a childhood spent overseas alongside a desire to improve life for the most vulnerable communities.
During my Biological Sciences degree at the University of Edinburgh, I developed a fascination for the complexity and diversity of microbial life and host-pathogen interactions. I went on to complete an MSc in Clinical Microbiology at the University of Nottingham before taking on a Research Assistant role at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) in 2015.
I worked in the Experimental Human Pneumococcal Challenge (EHPC) group at LSTM for 3.5 years. My responsibilities were varied and included processing volunteer samples, preparing bacteria for human inoculation, identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae from nasal washes, laboratory management, clinical trial governance, teaching and personal research projects. The latter included exploring the advantages of molecular detection for estimating S.pneumoniae carriage status from a variety of sample types.
I grew increasingly more interested in the relationship between S.pneumoniae carriage and malnutrition and decided to develop this into a PhD project. In addition to the continuing privilege of accessing LSTM’s world-class teaching and research resources, the MRC Doctoral Training Programme is offering me the opportunity to gain invaluable skills in qualitative research, statistics and computer programming through collaboration with Lancaster University. I look forward to applying these powerful tools in my future research practice.