Medical Society: Research and Academic Medicine Chair

Research is one of the domains that I, not only specialise in but also am deeply interested in. I am currently doing applied medical sciences, a premed course through which I could go either into the medical field or the research field. I therefore believe I have the necessary skills to undertake this role efficiently.I am dedicated to continued learning and to keep updating my knowledge regularly to optimise my contributions in this role. I have undertaken a lot of research projects in the past and my experience will prove beneficial to the society. I aim to further grow the society and bring in ideas that may have not been previously undertaken. Lastly, medicine is one of my biggest passions and this opportunity will help me develop important skills as well.

At UCL we are surrounded by world-class medical research - I would like to empower students to get involved in incredible projects and start a research journey of their own.

Research can take so many different forms, whether that be hands-on innovation, a literature review or a project harnessing computational science.

My research experience includes building a multi-trust database to analyse pregnancy outcomes for those with rheumatic disease, using machine learning to model Parkinson’s disease progression, as well as being invited to present my hospital ward audit at a national conference.

Most recently, my project using weather balloons to analyse the effects of lockdown on air pollution and consequent respiratory health was featured on BBC Radio 4.

I have been lucky to receive advice from students in older years about how to get involved in research, and without them, I do not think I would have become nearly as involved as I am now.

As Academic Medicine Chair, I would increase access to medical research by:

• Creating and maintaining an opportunities bank advertising all research opportunities in one place
• Creating a new mentorship scheme, pairing preclinical students with clinical students involved with research, so that they can receive advice about partaking in research from their first year at university
• Encouraging members to test-run a presentation informally to our members before presenting at a conference

Vote Sophie to introduce these ideas to Med Soc!