Profile

I came into research as a medical doctor – a paediatrician. I love working with children and their families for many reasons. I feel very lucky that I get to make medical assessments but also have long chats with my patients about Frozen and Paw Patrol!

When I’m not at work, I love spending time with my family, reading, and baking. My family is originally from Glasgow, but we moved around a lot when I was growing up. We lived in California for many years, so I feel happiest when I’m at the beach – although beaches in Scotland are a bit colder!! I love travelling and visiting new places.

Cancer treatments have gotten much better over the last few decades. This means that most children who are diagnosed with cancer will survive, but unfortunately treatment can have side effects later in life.

We are trying to make sure that children treated for cancer will still be able to have their own babies one day, if that is their choice. My research focuses on how the drugs we give to treat cancer are harmful to fertility (their ability to have a baby) and what we can do to try to stop these harmful effects.

My children wake me up early and mornings are busy, getting everyone dressed and fed and off to school or nursery. I enjoy my commute to work – time to listen to the radio and drink a coffee!

At work, I am usually in the lab working on experiments for most of the day. My lab work involves working with chemotherapy (anti-cancer) drugs so I have to be very careful about working safely with these drugs. When I’m not in the lab,  spend time on a special microscope taking photos of my experiments and at my desk analysing my results, which involves looking at pictures and counting cells as well as doing lots of work with spreadsheets and graphs. It is a very sociable job – there is always someone around to have a chat to in the lab and to have a coffee break with. My PhD supervisor is very accessible and we meet every week to chat about how I am getting on.

I usually leave work at 4:30 and collect my children, then evenings are busy again with homework, playing with Lego, making dinner, driving to Beavers/Rainbows/swimming lessons, bathtime, and bedtime stories! In my own time, I do pilates, read lots of books and listen to lots of podcasts, and spend as much time as possible with my friends and family.