Here’s another introductory post today, where I can hopefully explain to you what I do on a daily basis.

All PhD students will know the struggle of having to spell out their research in a short space of time to every person that they happen to meet. Through a combination of misconceptions about what a doctorate is and the nature of our work, which in a lot of cases can be so niche or abstract – communicating to a lay audience and a variety of people with different scientific understandings can be really difficult.

But here is a little summary of what a PhD is and what I do…

1. PhD stands for a Doctor of Philosophy

I am not a medical doctor. I repeat, I AM NOT A MEDICAL DOCTOR. If someone is in the room having a cardiac arrest, collapses or has a blocked airway and I am in the room, CALL AN AMBULANCE. I happen to work on a clinical topic with the treatment of traumatic brain injury, stroke and sub-arachnoid haemorrhage but I am in no way able or qualified to provide care to the infirmed. We gain the Dr title upon completion of studies but should never be placed in a medical emergency. I know a lot of medics: both in training and recently qualified and I salute you and the work that you do.

Now a Doctor of Philosophy is awarded to someone who can complete an original thesis (super long essay) which provides new knowledge in their field. Here, ‘philosophy’ refers to its original Greek meaning: philo (friend or lover of) sophia (wisdom). Maybe I am a lover of wisdom but that sounds a bit weird.

This is the highest level of academic degree that can be achieved and you spend 3 to 4 years working towards that original contribution which will have to be defended in a viva voce (oral exam) against two academics who essentially question you page by page on the concepts you have highlighted and used during the project.

That’s enough of the spiel from google.

2. I work on the brain

My project title is OneProbe: A new device for monitoring of the injured brain. In cases of road traffic collisions, assaults, falls and blast waves or equally spontaneous bleeds that can result from environmental factors – injuries to the brain can be very life-threatening. If these injuries: ranging from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) to strokes to bleeds on the brain known as haemorrhages proliferate, they can lead to lasting chronic damage and deficits for the patient.

I am currently building a device that can monitor the tissue of a brain injured patient, after the initial event and ensure that spreading depolarisations: phenomena that increase the size and severity of initial damage can be tracked and responded to by clinicians.

Now the implantation of this device would occur directly after a craniectomy, (partial removal of the skull) which is normally done to relieve pressure on a swelling and inflamed brain, whilst a patient is in an induced coma and this will be removed just before waking them up. To dispel a few myths, I am in no way trying to control or change people’s minds, this is purely for the purpose of monitoring to give clinicians more information about injury progression and guide in potential interventions to ensure that someone who sustains this type of damage has the best possible chance of recovery.

3. I love what I do

I have always been fascinated about the brain and my PhD pretty much combines all my interests into one. I studied chemistry at undergraduate level but now I get to combine my love of technology and science and the fact that ultimately I could help people, should this project go well.

I have take many visits to neuro-intensive care and seen ordinary people with severe injuries in an induced coma fighting for life. A lot of these injuries could happen to any of us but seeing first hand the effect on the lives of loved ones and the powerlessness of the patient in question, motivates me even more to do what I do and build a device that will have some efficacy in a clinical environment.

This makes all the late nights, early mornings, working on the weekends and constant commuting and travelling worth it. I hope this gives a brief answer to what I do and why and in the future when people ask me that question I might just send them this link. 🙂