Hometown: Sheffield, United Kingdom
Program: PhD Cell and Developmental Biology
Year in Program: 3
What inspired you to pursue your program?
Growing up, I was always fascinated by biology. However, I was fascinated by everything at that point and hadn’t found the area of biology that I really wanted to delve into. In between my 2nd and 3rd year of undergrad, I did an internship in a lab looking at sex differences in the brain of poison dart frogs. This experience more than any other led me to make studying sex differences in biological functions my area of research. So, when I graduated, I came to UBC and joined a lab doing exactly that!
What are you looking forward to most this upcoming year?
I’m really looking forward to cracking on with my research! Now that I’ve passed my comprehensive exam, all my time is devoted to research and I’m loving it!
Best piece of advice
My best piece of advice for grad students – also in general – is to balance out the stresses of life, whether that be research or classes, with something that you genuinely enjoy. It’s important that in challenging times that you can turn to something independent of your work that can help you keep going. Whether its running, or yoga, or knitting, it will help see you through the difficult days and give you something to look forward to.
First job
Asa kid growing up in Sheffield I first worked with my dad who ran a music shop selling pianos, guitars, and the like. I was there every Saturday before moving away for undergrad in Nottingham. It was a great atmosphere and I loved getting to work with my dad.
What’s next on your BC bucket list?
Well I’ve been doing a bit of hiking here and there and I really want to do the hike to Garibaldi
Lake, it looks stunning from what I’ve seen!