Coffee Break Science

In this episode, Dr Carla Usai talks about her international career journey so far as a postdoctoral scientist in infectious disease. Carla has a science communication blog where she writes about viruses, immunology and more, in both English and Italian: Home – Virus&Co. (art.blog) You can contact her on LinkedIn: (4) Carla Usai, PhD | LinkedIn

In this episode, I am joined by Dr Elham Sahafi, a dentist who became a scientist through a drive to make a difference to the lives of Head and Neck Cancer Patients. We talk about her incredible PhD research which found EGFR as a molecular biomarker for worsened prognosis for HNCSCC. You can find her publication mentioned in the episode here: EGFR overexpression increases radiotherapy response in HPV-positive head and neck cancer through inhibition of DNA damage repair and HPV E6 downregulation - ScienceDirect We also talk about the challenge of going through pregnancy, miscarriage and motherhood during a PhD, and how Elham has managed to handle them all. You can connect with Elham on LinkedIn: (22) Elham Sahafi | LinkedIn

Today I'm joined by Dr Irem Ishlek, a clinical doctor who is currently undertaking paediatric training and we talk all things medical education, research during medical training and challenges commonly faced by doctors from minority backgrounds! If you'd like to join or find out more about the Widening Participation Medics Network mentioned in the episode, you can do so here: Home | Widening Participation Medics Network (wpmedicsnetwork.com)

In this episode, we explore Dr Heather Fitzke's diverse career journey from social anthropology to public health & epidemiology, to a PhD and now post-doc in medical imaging in the field of neurogastroenterology. We explore the beauty and perils of working for the public sector, and academia in particular, and discover how Heather steered herself into the STEM field. If you work for a university, be sure to sign up for University and College Union: UCU - Join UCU Did you know that PhD students in the UK are twice as likely than other educated members of the general public to report symptoms of depression or anxiety, according to a recent study published in Nature by Chris Woolston? 71% of PhD students have at least mild depression, while 74% have some level of anxiety. Please speak to your GP or university counselling service if you are struggling with your mental health!