My story, so far...
I have followed an unconventional pathway to becoming a scientist, and working in medical research, which I think is important to share, because I never saw clear pathways to careers like the one I have now, as a child. I grew up in Australia on Magnetic Island, which is inside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, in Far North Queensland. I attended a small public primary school on the island for the first 8 years of my education, and was lucky enough to get a scholarship to attend a private high school in Townsville for my senior education. While I generally loved school and have always had a passion for learning and acquiring knowledge, I clashed with my (very average) year 10 science teacher, and declared at 14 years of age "I hate science!" In my final two years of high school, I took ancient history, modern history, drama, Japanese, English and math (because I had to).
After finishing high school in 2005, I wanted to move out of home and took a gap year to earn money and gain some life experience. During this year, I discovered that cereal can be eaten for lunch and dinner, not just breakfast, and that working for a real estate agent is as close to living in hell on earth as I had ever experienced. I became very eager to go to university, so in 2006 I enrolled in an arts degree, resigning myself to the fate of becoming a lawyer, as many people had predicted I would. After that first semester of uni, I wanted desperately to quit. I had turned in an assignment that I had almost totally made up and received a grade of 98%, which left me feeling bored, apathetic and unmotivated. While I'm sorry now for making up my assignment, I'm still glad I did it, because it made me realise that to be happy, I needed to be challenging myself. I told mum that I wanted to drop out of uni and do something else, but she begged me not to. She pleaded with me; "Please don't drop out, try something you've never done before! Do some science!"
Luckily, I decided to take mums advice (which she will tell you is quite rare!) and applying my newly learnt lesson, decided that I needed a challenge. I did a chemistry bridging course and intensive maths subject during the mid year holiday, then took advanced maths, chemistry and human anatomy the next semester. A world that I never knew existed had opened up and I could see molecules alive and dancing in front of me all of a sudden. Chemistry and maths were both really challenging but so rewarding to conquer, and I had become totally hooked on science. I wanted to change my degree straight away, but discovered an administrative hurdle in my path- as I didn't have all the prerequisite subjects to transfer to a Bachelor of Science. Fortunately I was able to make a deal with the dean of the school- he would let me enrol in the subjects I wanted to, and if I got distinctions or above in the next semester, he would let me transfer my degree. I did get distinctions that semester, and I quickly transferred to a Bachelor of Science majoring in human physiology. The same person I made that deal with ended up supervising my honours project in the school of biochemistry and molecular biology two years later, and I was awarded a first class for my thesis "Elucidation of the Escherichia coli phosphoenolpyruvate synthetase regulatory protein mechanism of action and structure".
After I completed my undergraduate studies in 2010, I was really interested in medicine and I decided to take a job working in medical research. I moved to Sydney and joined the Kirby Institute's Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program Laboratory working as a research assistant in 2011. Working in the laboratory at the Kirby Institute gave me a great introduction to clinical laboratory research and I was able to gain experience in many different areas and learn new skills. My supervisors encouraged me to apply for the Australian Postgraduate Award and I commenced my doctoral studies through the University of New South Wales in 2013. My research was supervised by Professor Gregory Dore, Associate Professor Jason Grebely and Senior Lecturer Tanya Applegate and my award was conferred in November 2017. My thesis was a multidisciplinary study utilising molecular biology laboratory techniques, phylogenetics and clinical epidemiology to study the transmission patterns of recently acquired Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Australia.
It was serendipitous that I ended up working in hepatitis C virus research, since my dad was diagnosed with this infection in 1998. Dad had probably been infected with hep C for at least 30 years, and it was most likely a result of injecting drugs or being in prison during his younger years. The impact my dad's hep C diagnosis had on my family is similar to the story I've heard from a lot of other people. My personal experience has given me a lot of insight in to the myriad factors contribute to hep C, and really motivates me to work towards elimination of hep C, not just in Australia but throughout the world.
I currently work at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver, Canada across a number of projects and areas around viral hepatitis, HIV and other transmissible infections. I have broad research interests including phylogenetics, molecular diagnostics, antiviral drug resistance, infectious disease epidemiology, health of marginalised populations and public policy. I have a particular interest in how basic science can be used to inform public health policy and hope my research can help lead to the elimination of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C virus.
I am a passionate advocate and supporter of diversity, inclusion and equity and work closely with the Grass Skirt Project and Aim For the Stars Foundation to help people everywhere, in particular women, achieve equality. I love to spend my spare time around the ocean, preferably surfing off a tropical island.
After finishing high school in 2005, I wanted to move out of home and took a gap year to earn money and gain some life experience. During this year, I discovered that cereal can be eaten for lunch and dinner, not just breakfast, and that working for a real estate agent is as close to living in hell on earth as I had ever experienced. I became very eager to go to university, so in 2006 I enrolled in an arts degree, resigning myself to the fate of becoming a lawyer, as many people had predicted I would. After that first semester of uni, I wanted desperately to quit. I had turned in an assignment that I had almost totally made up and received a grade of 98%, which left me feeling bored, apathetic and unmotivated. While I'm sorry now for making up my assignment, I'm still glad I did it, because it made me realise that to be happy, I needed to be challenging myself. I told mum that I wanted to drop out of uni and do something else, but she begged me not to. She pleaded with me; "Please don't drop out, try something you've never done before! Do some science!"
Luckily, I decided to take mums advice (which she will tell you is quite rare!) and applying my newly learnt lesson, decided that I needed a challenge. I did a chemistry bridging course and intensive maths subject during the mid year holiday, then took advanced maths, chemistry and human anatomy the next semester. A world that I never knew existed had opened up and I could see molecules alive and dancing in front of me all of a sudden. Chemistry and maths were both really challenging but so rewarding to conquer, and I had become totally hooked on science. I wanted to change my degree straight away, but discovered an administrative hurdle in my path- as I didn't have all the prerequisite subjects to transfer to a Bachelor of Science. Fortunately I was able to make a deal with the dean of the school- he would let me enrol in the subjects I wanted to, and if I got distinctions or above in the next semester, he would let me transfer my degree. I did get distinctions that semester, and I quickly transferred to a Bachelor of Science majoring in human physiology. The same person I made that deal with ended up supervising my honours project in the school of biochemistry and molecular biology two years later, and I was awarded a first class for my thesis "Elucidation of the Escherichia coli phosphoenolpyruvate synthetase regulatory protein mechanism of action and structure".
After I completed my undergraduate studies in 2010, I was really interested in medicine and I decided to take a job working in medical research. I moved to Sydney and joined the Kirby Institute's Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program Laboratory working as a research assistant in 2011. Working in the laboratory at the Kirby Institute gave me a great introduction to clinical laboratory research and I was able to gain experience in many different areas and learn new skills. My supervisors encouraged me to apply for the Australian Postgraduate Award and I commenced my doctoral studies through the University of New South Wales in 2013. My research was supervised by Professor Gregory Dore, Associate Professor Jason Grebely and Senior Lecturer Tanya Applegate and my award was conferred in November 2017. My thesis was a multidisciplinary study utilising molecular biology laboratory techniques, phylogenetics and clinical epidemiology to study the transmission patterns of recently acquired Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Australia.
It was serendipitous that I ended up working in hepatitis C virus research, since my dad was diagnosed with this infection in 1998. Dad had probably been infected with hep C for at least 30 years, and it was most likely a result of injecting drugs or being in prison during his younger years. The impact my dad's hep C diagnosis had on my family is similar to the story I've heard from a lot of other people. My personal experience has given me a lot of insight in to the myriad factors contribute to hep C, and really motivates me to work towards elimination of hep C, not just in Australia but throughout the world.
I currently work at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver, Canada across a number of projects and areas around viral hepatitis, HIV and other transmissible infections. I have broad research interests including phylogenetics, molecular diagnostics, antiviral drug resistance, infectious disease epidemiology, health of marginalised populations and public policy. I have a particular interest in how basic science can be used to inform public health policy and hope my research can help lead to the elimination of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C virus.
I am a passionate advocate and supporter of diversity, inclusion and equity and work closely with the Grass Skirt Project and Aim For the Stars Foundation to help people everywhere, in particular women, achieve equality. I love to spend my spare time around the ocean, preferably surfing off a tropical island.
