Meet Rakhshan Kamran

What year are you and what is your PhD on?

I am currently in my second year. My PhD is on implementing the world’s first national patient-reported outcome measurement programme for gender-affirming care. I am working to implement a program which will measure patient voice and patient outcomes for people who are receiving gender-affirming care in the UK. This will ensure that patient voices are heard and used to drive care decisions. My work also has implications to improve communication between patients and clinicians, improve health outcomes, improve satisfaction with care, and allow for comparative treatment effectiveness and cost-effectiveness research.

What is your day-to-day like? What does your research involve? 

My day-day is extremely variable! As my PhD workstreams can be done remotely, I typically will work from home or a nearby café/library. The first workstream of my PhD is a systematic review, which I am wrapping up now. The second workstream is conducting focus groups, and the third workstream is piloting an implementation plan. 

What is your background? And what brought you to a DPhil at NDORMS? 

I completed undergraduate and medical (Doctor of Medicine, MD) degrees in Canada. I actually still have about six months left of my MD to finish, which I will complete once I finish my DPhil and return to Canada.

I was really drawn to NDORMS for a few key reasons. Firstly, in my field of patient-reported outcomes, research being conducted at NDORMS in this field is truly at the cutting edge. I was drawn to working with Prof Jeremy Rodrigues and Mr Conrad Harrison who are leaders in this field and using innovative techniques to advance outcome measurement.

I was also drawn to NDORMS for its highly collaborative environment. I really appreciate that we have diverse teams of clinicians, statisticians, qualitative researchers, and more – all working together in one space. It is really valuable to learn from multidisciplinary teams and have the expertise around me to apply new research methods to my DPhil. Finally, I was very interested in coming to the UK as the UK has established programs for patient-reported outcome measurement in a few clinical areas. The UK is further along than Canada in this field and I felt that I could successfully implement an outcome measurement program for gender-affirming care here.

What is it like to be a DPhil student at NDORMS? 

It is a really positive experience being a student at NDORMS. I feel extremely supported by my supervisors, but also the graduate studies team. I also appreciate how friendly everyone is, and a nice sense of community. I also really value the excellent training opportunities provided by NDORMS in a variety of research areas.

What is it like to be a DPhil student at Oxford? 

Being a DPhil student at Oxford is an incredible experience. The architecture in Oxford is really beautiful, and sometimes just going for a walk is enough to recharge me when I need a bit of a break or some inspiration! I also love how tight-knit a community it is in Oxford. Every time I leave my house, I run into people I know and there is a really nice sense of community here.

I also really value how different events draw upon a highly interdisciplinary crowd. Whether there is an event going on at the Union, or even when Hillary Clinton and Ban-Ki Moon visited Oxford, I always meet people from across various programs, fields of study, and professions. This allows me to learn about fields that are different from my own and make connections with people from all around the world who are studying different subjects at Oxford. My two closest friends in Oxford study Italian Literature and Political Science. I am really appreciative of the interdisciplinary and worldwide community at Oxford and how the university facilitates us all getting together.