We are online learners from across the globe and are so excited to be attending the very first MSc Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Residential week. We are looking forward to experiencing the Edinburgh Medical School campus's, meeting each other and meeting key staff in person!

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We come from a diverse range of backgrounds and have nominated Victoria Burgess as our resident blogger!

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Maria Amukwaya

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I am a technologist from Namibia and work in  Microbiology and Infectious diseases teaching laboratories, under the department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Namibia. I have an Honours Degree in Microbiology and Chemistry from University of Namibia.

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My research interests are in the field of diagnostic and public health.

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Calvin Lung

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I am a Public Health Microbiologist at the Fresno County Public Health Laboratory. I completed a BSc in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.
I got my first start as a microbiologist working at a biotech start-up in Palo Alto, California and then went onto specialize in public health microbiology as a PHM trainee at the Placer County Public Health Laboratory as part of the 2017 cohort.
I am currently working to jump-start the Fresno County Public Health Laboratory after it was shut down for nearly two years after a flood.

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My research interests include molecular biology, bioinformatics, virology, and clinical assay development.

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Tara Hoop

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My first degree was in biology, and my second was in pharmacy, leading to a professional pharmacist designation.  I also received a board certification in pharmacotherapy several years ago, and hope to gain an additional certification in infectious diseases once I have completed my current program.  
I have worked in hospital pharmacy since my graduation in 2006.  During that time, I have had the opportunity to work in rehabilitation, chemotherapy, the emergency department, and finally in the area of antimicrobial stewardship.

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Amal Khattab

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I am a medical graduate and worked as a general practitioner for several years. I found myself fascinated by emerging infectious diseases and I took few short courses to learn more about certain infections. I realised that it would open my horizons and enhance my career to do a master's degree. After a thorough search for the appropriate programme, I found the MSc CMID which fits perfectly around my current commitments. In the future, I am looking to develop my research skills and I am considering clinical microbiology as a sub-speciality. 

My research interests are emerging infectious diseases and novel vaccines research.

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Victoria Burgess

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 I am a secondary school Biology teacher and have been teaching for almost 8 years. I did not plan on being a teacher until I was 25 when I met a trainee teacher. As a single mum I wanted to find a profession that would fit around my 3 children. I did not have any qualifications beyond GCSE at that point and enrolled on a year long foundation degree in order to get a relevant degree to become a Biology teacher. I then studied a Biomedical degree, but as I knew I would not be continuing on and working in a hospital or clinic, I chose to complete neuropharmacology instead of oncology in my final year, and opted out of the standards lectures. This gave me a Bioscience; medical physiology degree. I then completed my teacher training at a fantastic grammar school which I worked at for 6 years before moving to King's as Head of Biology.

I had wanted to do a masters straight after my undergraduate degree but could not get the student loan to do so, at the time I would have liked a masters in neuropharmacology or perhaps microbiology, both of which interested me. As they started allowing student loans for a masters a few years ago, I thought I would apply to finally gain this level of qualification. I work full time, and am still a single mum, but researching and work for this programme has been a wonderful distraction from marking on a weekend! I wanted to complete my masters in this field as I find infectious diseases fascinating, the constant battle we have as well as the complexity of the micro-organisms that cause these diseases, make it an area of research I am more than enjoying. I would like at some point in the future to become a university lecturer in this field. The only question will be if I still have it in me to do that and my PhD.

 

Rebecca Dewar

I am a trainee clinical scientist in microbiology. I completed my Undergraduate (BSc Hons) from Strathclyde University in Immunology and Microbiology
and went onto complete a Masters in Research (MRes) from Glasgow University in Infectious disease specialised in Virology. I received my Doctorate (PhD) from Edinburgh University in Influenza and Antiviral research                                                                                                                      
I am Currently based at the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh (Medical Microbiology Department) as a pre-registration Clinical Scientist specialised in Microbiology (in year 1 of 3 year placement).
My research interests/experience has mainly been in virology (in particular influenza A virus), however in my current position I have more experience with bacterial STI infections, developing diagnostic assays and rapid sequencing techniques (NGS).

 

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