Category: Students

Kwaku Duah-Asante, Undergraduate, Faculty of Medicine    

“I am particularly passionate about ensuring that access to institutions like Imperial, is attainable to students from a greater array of backgrounds”

I’m a fifth-year medical student here at Imperial. Born and raised in South-East London, I am of Ghanaian heritage.   

I chose medicine as a career due to the ability to impact a patient’s life and the positive contributions doctors make to society.    

My journey so far in medical school has been enriching. I’ve met a lot of amazing people, developed massively as a person and have also been fortunate enough to carry out amazing work such as a research project in Uganda. Our research looked at the effect on malaria of discontinuing the use of the antibiotic, co-trimoxazole in people with HIV in the country’s biggest hospital, Mulago Hospital.  

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Toyin Sosanya, Taught Postgraduate, School of Public Health

“I recently completed COVID-19 vaccination training and have joined other healthcare professionals in vaccinating the nation.”

I’m a qualified pharmacist with experience of working in an NHS Trust and a community pharmacy. During my pharmacy career, personal and academic experiences exposed me to the different health challenges faced by populations around the world. This sparked my interest and led me to pursue a Master’s in Public Health – the global health stream. 

I have learnt about the principles of public health and policy development as well as different global health challenges. I have also learnt about the significance of global governance, health economics and other disciplines such as statistics and epidemiology – which are all essential for improving global health. I am looking forward to working with my supervisors on my summer project, which will utilise data from the Improving Health in Slums Collaboration to explore migration.  

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Aithne Atkinson, Research Postgraduate, Department of Brain Sciences

“No matter how far away your work is from the clinic, there is nothing more motivating than bringing patients and the public into your research bubble.” 

After completing my undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology and a Master’s degree in Cancer Biology, I chose to undertake a PhD at Imperial. Imperial is all about research, but being a researcher is not all about lab coats, hypothesis testing and data analysis. 

Although most of my time was lab-based (pre-pandemic) I have really enjoyed taking opportunities to gain insight into the clinical impact of research through patient and public engagement activities. I have helped to deliver charity lab tours and taken part in clinical trial design discussions with clinicians, scientists, patients and the public. I’ve found that no matter how far away your work is from the clinic, there is nothing more motivating than bringing patients and the public into your research bubble and talking to them about what you do! 

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Josh D’Aeth, Research Postgraduate, School of Public Health

“We looked at how the NHS could best manage capacity during peaks in infection, as well as how to optimally schedule elective care for non-COVID-19 patients” 

“I came to Imperial in 2017, after completing my undergraduate degree in Biology. During my undergrad, I’d really enjoyed learning about infectious disease evolution, so the Imperial 1 + 3 PhD programme on the epidemiology, evolution and control of infectious disease seemed ideal to me.  

“After completing a Master’s in my first year, my PhD now focuses on antibiotic resistance, looking for patterns in how it evolves and spreads through different bacterial species. In particular, I’ve focused on how interactions between species, particularly with those that don’t tend to cause disease, can be important drivers of antibiotic resistance spread.  

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Rokshan Easwarathasan, Undergraduate, Faculty of Medicine

Part of Shifting the Lens: A celebration of cultural diversity at Imperial

“I was never ashamed of my background at school, but there weren’t many of us and I wouldn’t always be outgoing about being Tamil and from Sri Lanka. I just knew I was different.

“My parents are both immigrants from Sri Lanka, but I was born and brought up in East London. My surname has thirteen letters in it – lots of Sri Lankan people have long names – and teachers have always struggled with it or avoided it full stop. Things like that make you realise you’re different. Even my first name, some people have difficulty with it. But nowadays people want to learn how to pronounce your name properly, even more so at Imperial where there are people from so many cultures. Everyone’s welcoming. (more…)

Fatima Elzahra Khan, Undergraduate, Department of Chemical Engineering

Part of Shifting the Lens: A celebration of cultural diversity at Imperial

“Back in the Emirates and Pakistan, there is a disparity between how men and women are treated, but my mum is one of the most powerful and inspiring women I know. She left home to pursue her education and get a PhD. Marrying my dad was not the done thing – she was probably expected to marry a local, which a lot of my aunts did do. (more…)

Riad Yagoubi, Research Postgraduate, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction

Part of Shifting the Lens: A celebration of cultural diversity at Imperial

“When I was in primary school, I always felt different. A lot of other people thought I was weird because I knew Arabic/Algerian. There’s very much the stereotype in France that if you speak Arabic or Algerian Arabic you haven’t adapted enough to French society or can’t speak French very well. As a result, I felt quite alone a lot.

“In France, you are allocated a high school based on location, but I was able to choose my high school because I had good results. But I felt different as most of my fellow students were the sons of politicians and doctors, and my background was completely different. (more…)

Emre Yavuz, Taught Postgraduate, Department of Brain Sciences

“Working with my peers to overcome the inevitable challenges we have faced during the pandemic has made my student experience the best it could be.”   

I recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc in Neuroscience and started my Master’s degree in Translational Neuroscience in the autumn. I am fascinated by several areas of neuroscience, including psychedelics and dementia care, and technology. I hope to carry out my Master’s thesis in psychedelic research, and I aspire to continue my studies with a PhD in this field. One of my life goals is to combine science and technology to massively improve the quality of life of those suffering from debilitating neurological diseases.     (more…)

Leonardo Zea Reyes, Research Postgraduate, Centre for Environmental Policy

“I’m investigating how to better integrate climate policies into city planning with a focus on human health.” 

I’m an Environmental Policy Research PhD student at the Centre for Environmental Policy. My Master’s is in Urban Management and Development with a specialisation in Environment and Climate Change and studied Architecture. I have broadened my scope from a siloed area such as architecture to the urban and environmental dimensions. 

I’m investigating how to better integrate climate policies into city planning with a focus on human health using a systems-thinking approach – which means thinking about the greater picture. Additionally, I am a partner at Cónclave Consultora, a consultancy that helps people who want to construct a building through recommendations that consider the entire development as a whole. In the process, we conduct an environmental impact assessment – an application of my academic preparation at Imperial.  (more…)

Shiya Li, Research Postgraduate, Dyson School of Design Engineering

“Within three months of starting, we launched Mensura Mask and started to provide free custom-fit mask CAD models to the public.” 

I am a final year PhD student at the Dyson School of Design Engineering, working to develop novel design methods to quickly and automatically create custom-fit Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models of facial wearable products. I started out looking at Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) mask for sleep apnoea patients but later refocused to PPE respirator masks due to COVID-19. Prior to joining Imperial, I studied aerospace engineering and worked extensively on 3D printing.   (more…)