Profile

Photo:

Rob Shorten

My CV

  • Education:

    Bexley Grammar School (BGS), Welling, Kent.
    University of Greenwich (UoG)
    Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)
    University College London (UCL)

  • Qualifications:

    BGS: GCSEs (usual suspects, with biology, chemistry, physics & Latin)
    BGS: A levels in biology, chemistry, physics
    UoG: BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science – helped me qualify initially as a Biomedical Scientist and lit my passion for laboratory science. It also made me eligible to apply to train as a Clinical Scientist.
    QMUL: MSc in Clinical Microbiology – helped me qualify as a Clinical Scientist and gave me an introduction in research
    UCL: PhD in tuberculosis
    Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists

  • Work History:

    The Co-op as a teenager. Shelf staking and on the tills
    Double glazing window sales whilst at secondary school
    Trainee and then Biomedical Scientist at The London Clinic
    Trainee and then Clinical Scientist at the Royal Free Hospital
    Clinical Scientist at Public Health England in Manchester

  • Current Job:

    Consultant Clinical Scientist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, Preston

    • About Me:

      I’m an enthusiastic person and love my job. I live in North Manchester with my wife (also a scientist), my two daughters, and our cat called Peanut.

    • Read more

      I live in North Manchester with my wife (also a scientist), my two daughters, and our cat called Peanut. I like to play my drums (badly) when I get the chance and take my work home by baking all our bread and sometimes brewing beer! I love dancing around the kitchen with the family. My pronouns are he/him.

    • Read more

      Each hospital has a group of laboratories (labs). Healthcare staff from the hospital and GPs send samples from their patients to help decide what’s wrong (diagnose) with them. Each lab looks after different aspects of disease. My lab diagnoses infections. We take samples from patients (blood, wee, poo, swabs, pus….) and test them to see what we can find. I then use these test results to talk to the healthcare staff about their patients and help them to treat the infections with drugs such as antibiotics.

      A significant part of my job is to make sure the we use antibiotics wisely. You may have heard of antibiotic resistance or ‘Superbugs’. Using antibiotics when we don’t need to, or for too long, of the wrong antibiotics can all cause this. I help to make sure that the right patients get the right antibiotics at the right time. This helps to make sure that the patients get better and that we can continue to use the antibiotics that we have for many more years.

    • My Typical Day:

      I get up early and get ready for the day. I then go to the hospital and look at all the results of the tests (the wee, poo, and blood!) and decide which patients need my help. I can phone the doctors to talk about their infections and treatment or go to the hospital wards to see the doctors and patients.

    • Read more

      Before 9am: currently I’m checking the Public Health England COVID guidance online to see if there are any changes that need to be made to the way that we care for our COVID patients

      9am – 1pm: take phone calls from the hospital doctors and GPs about their patients. I help them to diagnose their infections and choose the right antibiotics to help them to get better.

      1-2pm: Join a zoom call to help a COVID lab make their testing safer for their staff

      2-3pm: Give an online talk to trainee scientists about viral haemorrhagic fevers, such as Ebola

      3-4pm: Join a zoom call about a research study about the use of genetically modified vaccines and cancer

      4-5pm: Review some laboratory data with one of trainees.

      5-6pm: call some significant lab results out to the doctors on the wards and advise on the treatment of their patients

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      I’d use it to contribute to a social media video that we’re at the early stage of developing. We want to highlight the wide range of rewarding roles in pathology to school leavers, as well as highlight the importance of labs in healthcare.

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        Infection detective

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        A doctor

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        No. Boring, sorry :o(

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Metallica

        What's your favourite food?

        Pasta

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        A solution to climate change. A solution to antibiotic resistance. To be a much better drummer than I am!

        Tell us a joke.

        Why did the chicken cross the road? Because the chicken behind it didn’t know how to socially distance properly.

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