What did you do before health data research?

I graduated with a natural sciences degree in 2010. After a few months of travelling, I started a career as an insurance analyst and I ended up spending about 13 years in the industry. Initially I did catastrophe modelling – analysing the risk of hurricanes and earthquakes to price insurance and reinsurance. Then I moved into Upstream Energy, and it was more about aggregation of risk at oil platforms and managing that.

There were aspects I quite enjoyed, but over the years I was also gradually feeling as though the work lacked personal meaning and I was keen to find a new challenge.

Having my first child about five years ago also changed my perspective. Being away from my kids at work made me want to spend my time on something that really interests me and feels like an important use of my time. And for a few years I had been thinking about health and how data could be used more effectively within healthcare.

Were there other motivations for looking at the healthcare sector?

I’d had my own slightly frustrating experiences with the healthcare system and its inefficiencies. I often thought there was a better way things could be done, and I was surprised how little data was used within healthcare and the delivery of healthcare.

I found myself complaining about it and then I thought that I don’t want to be one of those people that just moans and doesn’t actually do anything. So when my children were a little older and I was getting slightly more sleep, I bit the bullet and decided to apply for a master’s, with a hope of starting a new career and in some small way, improving the system for others.

Were you always interested in health as an option?

Yes it was something I had always thought about but I sort of fell into insurance, which took me in a different direction. During my time in Insurance, I found that data analysis was something I was good at and enjoyed and as data science started to grow as a field, I became interested to explore it further – especially in a health-related setting.

How did you learn about your master’s course?

I would speak to my friends a lot about my interests and a friend had studied at the London school a few years ago and said “look, they’ve got this course you should apply”. It pretty much aligned with exactly what I was looking for.

How did you discover the HDR UK scholarships and what has been the benefit?  

I had been searching for scholarship opportunities because the idea of losing my income plus having to take out a loan for my studies (especially with two young children) was nervewracking – the thought of debt is quite stressful for me.

I hadn’t really found any that were suitable for part-time students and that also aligned with my interests. Then a couple of months before I was due to start the course, an email came through from LSHTM with information about the HDR UK scholarships – these were available to part-time students and one of the scholarship areas was respiratory. Coincidentally it was shortly after I’d had my own experience with pneumonia – I was misdiagnosed a few times and as a result, ended up in A&E. So this had made me think a lot more about the challenges for those with chronic respiratory conditions and I could see how there would be huge value in doing my final project in this field.

Being a bit older and not having a background in health, I applied not really expecting anything to come from it so I was really delighted and grateful to receive a scholarship. With the kick-off of the respiratory data science catalyst, the timing has been great because it feels like there is a lot of buy-in to really improving the understanding of respiratory conditions through research and data – I feel lucky that I get to be involved in that through my project and that I have the benefit of guidance and support from knowledgeable and experienced mentors.

Were there any worries about returning to academic study?

Yes definitely – I did wonder if after so many years whether I would be capable of studying again. I thought that compared to my peers, I would be incredibly rusty and those first couple of weeks of my statistics module did confirm that!

But the brain is an amazing thing and once you get into it, it’s really rewarding – I’d really recommend it if anyone is thinking about it. It’s daunting at first but whether it has been one year, 15 years or even more than that, you’re never too old to learn again. It was just quite important for me to carve out the right amount of time to keep on top of it and keep up!

Tell us about your research project.

I’m in the early stages – my ethical approval has come through and I’m starting with my literature review. The main aim of my project is to build a machine learning model to predict neuropsychiatric side effects for an asthma drug called Montelukast.

Neuropsychiatric side effects such as anxiety and depression (in some cases leading to suicide) have been reported, but it’s not particularly well understood at the moment. So there’s a wider project at the university taking place to understand and quantify the link using electronic health record data.

My project is a tag on to that and is specifically looking at what characteristics of patients might make them more vulnerable to these side effects. The hope is that if the model produces meaningful results, it could help to tailor treatments to individuals so that Montelukast would not be prescribed to those most at risk if there is a suitable alternative available.

Why did you choose a part-time option?

My kids are five and nearly three, so being able to spend a lot of time with them at this stage of their life is important to me, and to them as well. My studies also matter a lot to me and I want to do well, so I wanted to give them the time and focus they need. The part-time option has been great so far in giving me the balance I’m after.

Do you think scholarships and flexibility in learning are important?

I really do – it’s incredibly helpful for people like myself who have children or responsibilities that mean they can’t dedicate themselves full time to the course. Both scholarships and flexibility make courses like this available to a much wider group of people with differing backgrounds. And that’s great because you end up with a much more diverse group of people and perspectives.

What are your hopes for the future?

I am very open-minded at the moment. Initially I thought, I’ll do the master’s then potentially find a job at a charity or maybe within the NHS where I can help to improve efficiencies.

And then as time has gone on, I’m starting to give some thought to the possibility of doing a PhD. So I I’d like to see how it pans out the next few months, and how I get on with my project and then I can make a more considered decision about it.