Profile

My CV

• Education:

  (1993 – 1999) Bourton Meadow School
  (1999 – 2006) Royal Latin School
  (2006 – 2010) Oxford Brookes University
  (2010 – 2011) University of Westminster
  (2012 – 2013 ) University of Nottingham
  (2020 – 2021) University College London
  (2021 – ?) University College London

• Qualifications:

  I have 13 GCSEs because I went to the type of school that valued the number over anything else. I did A Levels in Biology, Chemistry and English Literature (grades BBB) with an AS Level in Maths (c) that I didn’t take to A Level because I found it far too hard.

  When I left school at 18 I took a work based placement, so all of my degrees were completed while working. It’s a lot of work but gave me a better understanding of my career, work experience, and I have no student loan! I have: a BSc (Hons) in Applied Biomedical Science from Oxford Brookes, as well as an MSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Westminster.

  After this I started an MSc in Clinical Microbiology but withdrew after the first year (it was a three year course). There is nothing wrong with starting something in your career and realising that it’s not the right path for you.

  Currently I am halfway through a Postgraduate Certificate in Health Professions Education and just starting a PhD in Microbiology – both at UCL. All of my degrees were precisely the ones I needed for work which means I’ve always found it fairly easy to find new jobs when I need them.

• Work History:

  (Yes there are LOADS of overlapping roles. Portfolio careers – where you have multiple part time jobs at the same time – are not for everyone, but they are becoming more common and it has really worked for me).

  (2001 – 2004) Newspaper Delivery
  (2004 – 2006) Catering Assistant
  (2006 – 2010) Trainee Biomedical Scientist
  (2010 – 2012) Catering Assistant
  (2011 – 2012) Specialist Biomedical Scientist
  (2012 – 2013) Trainee Clinical Scientist
  (2013 – 2016) Specialist Biomedical Scientist
  (2015) Biomedical Scientist – Ebola Response
  (2016 – 2019) Private Tutor
  (2016 – 2018) Senior Biomedical Scientist
  (2018 – 2019) Healthcare Science Education Lead
  (2019 – 2020) End Point Assessor
  (2019) Specialist Biomedical Scientist

• Current Job:

  I currently have way too many jobs! I have built a portfolio career because it gives me the opportunity to experience lots of different areas and stops work becoming stagnant. Generally in a portfolio career you wouldn’t have any role as full time, and remember some of these I only do for a few hours each month!

  Paid Roles
  1. Deputy Trust Lead Healthcare Scientist / Lead Quality and Risk Assurance Manager, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (2019 – Present)

  2. Lead IQA Assessor, National School of Healthcare Science (2020 – Present)

  3. Science communicator / stand up comedian (2019 – Present).

  Volunteer Roles
  4. STEM Ambassador, London STEM Hub (2018 – Present).

  5. Enterprise Advisor, Mayor of London / Oxfordshire County Council (2020 – Present).

  6. Work experience project provider, Nuffield Future Researchers (2020 – Present).

  Student
  7. Postgraduate student at UCL – Postgraduate Certificate in Health Professions Education

  8. PI (Principle Investigator) on a research grant where we are redesigning how to test for sepsis in patients. This should reduce the time taken to diagnose what is causing sepsis from 72 hours down to 8 hours and hopefully reduce mortality rates. This work is the first part of my PhD.