Activities and resources for schools and their students

Have you thought of a career in Medical Research?

NDORMS is hosting a series of online talks/conversations with scientists from NDORMS and other University of Oxford Medical Science departments for Y12/13 students. These will be a mix of information about both the scientists careers and their research work with plenty of time for Q&As on either.

These talks are a joint initiative between two departments in the Oxford University Medical Sciences Division (NDORMS and NDS) 

Talks will be run as a zoom webinar and each session with three researchers takes 45-60minutes.  If you would like to attend the talks please sign up using the links below.  A link to the recording of the talks will be posted here after it happens

Upcoming Talks

4-5pm Wednesday 8th March - International Women's Day

Registration Link

Susan Morris - Becoming a research nurse

I currently work as a research nurse for the NHS and the University of Oxford, based at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. I always knew that I would work in healthcare, helping people and delivering evidenced based care makes me happy, I started a Nursing Degree at 19, dropped out and worked in other health fields and finally completed my Nursing Degree at 40. My early education didn’t define my career choices, my life experiences did!

Stephanie Dakin - From horse to humans: A journey in the musculoskeletal sciences

Growing up I loved animals and science, so it made sense to study to become a vet. I worked as a horse vet for over a decade, however the challenges I experienced as an equine vet caused me to become more curious about how and why horses develop injuries to their limbs and understand why they are so difficult to treat. This provided the incentive for me to go back to vet school and study for a PhD. Having completely got the bug for science enjoying the freedom to pursue the research questions I was interested in; I moved to Oxford University to advance and translate my research on horses into humans. Turns out we are not so different to horses after all! I currently work as an Associate Professor, leading a research group where we investigate the underlying cause of common musculoskeletal diseases with the aim of finding better treatments for patients affected by conditions affecting their tendons and ligaments.

Lucy Starling 

I have always felt the need to help others but being a doctor or nurse never directly appealed to me. When I was at university, I realised that I could help people through clinical research. Since graduating I have worked as a research assistant at the University of Oxford, working on a range of projects involving things like vision, stroke rehabilitation, virtual reality, and exercise – all with an ultimate aim of improving healthcare.  

Previous have you thought of a career in medical research Talks

WEDNESDAY 8TH FEBRUARY

Dr Ruth Tunn: A meandering path to medical research

I’ve never had a clear career plan, but following my interests has led me (with various detours) to my current role as a research fellow at the University of Oxford. My work focuses on how researchers report clinical trials, and on ways to prevent research being wasted. For medical research to be useful to patients, doctors, and other researchers, we need to make sure all the important details are included when it is published. I’m currently working on identifying what counts as “important”, and developing tools and training to make sure researchers don’t miss out any critical information.

Jennie Astley: Mathematician to geneticist?

Maths was always my favourite subject at school. I didn’t study biology at A-level and failed to get into Cambridge for maths and physics. After a maths degree (plus two years of being confused) and a few years as a software engineer, I applied to Oxford for a master’s degree in infectious disease modelling. I’m now doing a PhD in statistical genetics, surrounded by people from lots of different academic backgrounds, and I’m contributing to medical research through my favourite subject, even though it isn’t medicine!

Gurdeep Mannu

 Follow the links for talk descriptions and link to talk videos 

March 8 2021 International Women's Day 

March 15 2021 

April 21 2021 

May 19 2021 

July 7 2021 

July 8 2021 

October 21 2021

November 18 2021

December 1 2021

Feb 2 2022 

March 8 2022

April 6 2022

May 11 2022

June 8 2022

October 12 2022

November 9 2022

December 14 2022

Any Questions?

Please email workexperience@ndorms.ox.ac.uk

Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS)

NDORMS is a multidisciplinary medical research department within the University of Oxford that brings together researchers, statisticians, engineers, imaging specialists, clinicians and patients in order to undertake the highest quality research in musculoskeletal and inflammatory conditions to deliver new treatments, which improve people's lives.

Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences (NDS)

NDS hosts a multidisciplinary team of senior clinical academic surgeons, senior scientists, junior clinicians and scientists in training. We comprise of major surgical specialties, including gastro-intestinal, transplantation, vascular, paediatric, plastic, ear, nose and throat (ENT), neurosurgery, and urology.