Lauren W.
About me
| Lauren W. | |
| Mathematics | |
| Mathematics | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Vanbrugh | |
| 2011 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Research Assistant | |
| Public Health England | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Government and civil service | |
| 2012 | |
| 2014 |
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A day in the life of a Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Research Assistant in the United Kingdom
Courses taken since graduation
MSc Statistical Epidemiology, The University of Leeds, Pass with Distinction
Where I hope to be in 5 years
I hope to continue a career in epidemiology where I can help to improve the health and well-being of people. Over time I hope to explore the epidemiology of other diseases both nationally and internationally and to progress from a research assistant role to a research associate role, with the hopes of leading a team of researchers one day.
My advice to students considering work
My personal advice to York students would be to gain as much extra-curricular experience as you possibly can throughout your time at University - even if these experiences are not entirely related to your future career path, they all contribute to your character and employability. Take part in society activities that you enjoy. I can particularly recommend the York Student's in School program. I completed a 3 month YSIS program in my third and final year of my degree and it pushed me to improve my communication and people skills to a whole new level, working with classes of Swedish and English A-Level Mathematics students as they approached exam periods. Even if teaching is not your final career path, the skills you learn doing YSIS are essential for all jobs out there. Employers are keen to see young individuals use their free-time to expand their knowledge and skills - they want to employ people who are highly motivated about every aspect of life.
For any York students or graduates interested in a career in epidemiology I would recommend seeking jobs from both academic and public sector employers.
My advice about working in my industry
For any York students or graduates interested in a career in epidemiology I would recommend seeking jobs from both academic and public sector employers.
What I do
In my role as invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) research assistant and member of the IPD steering group at the North East Public Health England Centre, I am responsible for the cleaning, extraction and dissemination of enhanced surveillance data for use in research projects and routine reports for stakeholders. I am working on multiple projects looking into the epidemiology of IPD across the north east of England region. I frequently use analytical and statistical skills in a variety of programs, including Microsoft Access and Excel, STATA and ArcGIS. Among many other things I also write reports and manuscripts for submission to journals and present my work at national health protection conferences. My colleagues and I of the Invasive Pneumococcal Steering Group published an article, of which I was the lead author, in the Trials in Vaccinology journal in 2013. The reserach study investigated the effectiveness of the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine against invasive pneumococcal disease in people aged 65 years and over in the North East of England, April 2006–July 2012.
I work in an open office with approximately 60 PHE colleagues. I sit with fellow epidemiologists in a 4-desk cluster which gives us a sense of uniformity and promotes regular group work. My job can change on a day-to-day basis depending on the demands of the role at that particular time. One day I may be conducting literature searches and reviewing research articles, another I may be performing statistical analyses in STATA, or writing a report or journal article. There are times when I offer my support to the Health Protection Team when telephone surveys are needed to be carried out.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Extracurricular skills:
I most frequently use my interpersonal, organisational and problem solving skills in my job, as well as the epidemiological, statistical and report writing skills I developed from my Masters degree. I have attended PHE traning courses frequently and completed online training via Civil Service Learning in my own time. Working within a multi-disciplinary team develops all of these skills day-to-day.
What I like most
I love the variety of tasks involved in my role as a researcher and having the opportunity to explore topics of my interest as well as those of the IPD steering group. I also relish the opportunities to publish our work in scientific journals and to present our findings at national conferences. I feel that I am making a real and positive contribution to the health and well-being of the UK population and I hope that I can continue to do this in my future career.
What I like least
The only negative aspect of my job is the fact that I am on a fixed-term contract. This means that I can be quite uncertain as to whether my employment will continue after certain dates if additional funding is not granted. In today's job market, it is increasingly difficult to secure permanent employment, and so I make the most of the opportunities presented in my current role.
Next steps...
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