“I was lucky enough to be part of the medical team at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, a truly unforgettable experience and a patient group like no other!”
I completed my undergraduate degree qualifying as a Diagnostic Radiographer in 2004. I’ve enjoyed a brilliantly varied career up to now, working clinically in various countries, commencing a research career at UCL, and completing an MSc in Medical Magnetic Resonance. I was lucky enough to be part of the medical team at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, a truly unforgettable experience and a patient group like no other!
A particular career highlight came in 2014 when I worked in the Falkland Islands for a year. I was responsible for the medical imaging of the human population as well as that required by the veterinary service and the fisheries department.
My current role at Imperial is as Senior Research Radiographer in a friendly and supportive team at the Mansfield Centre for Innovation. We optimise, acquire and analyse MRI data for an array of different studies, working closely with cardiac and psychiatric imaging groups who study diseases ranging from cardiomyopathy and pulmonary hypertension to schizophrenia and psychosis. We also perform some clinical imaging, such as running the fetal MRI service for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
COVID-19 impacted our workload significantly with research and elective clinical work suspended for a period. I redeployed to the Trust’s Infection Prevention & Control Team and also spent some time vaccinating for my local GP practice. Now that life is getting back to normal, I am looking forward to getting stuck in to some new research projects.
In 2018 I received an MRC Local Hero Award for consistently going above and beyond in delivering patient care, co-authoring scientific papers, developing original research which was presented at conference, and being involved with public engagement initiatives. It was very gratifying to be recognised. I feel fortunate to be surrounded by such generous colleagues and I have learned a great deal during my time at Imperial.
In my spare time I volunteer for Aspire, a spinal injury charity, – I support swimmers who are swimming The English Channel. I enjoy long-distance fresh-water swimming myself. Last year I swam the 7-mile length of Ullswater and I hope to achieve the same feat in Windermere next year, albeit 10.5 miles!