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Institute of Genetics and Cancer

Institute of Genetics and Cancer

A blog for our community to write about their interests and to share their stories.

TRAM MB-PhD: That’s a lot of letters!

Head shot of PhD student Rowan Hart

There it was… I knew immediately that this was a path I wanted to take.

Hello everyone! My name is Rowan and I am currently in the middle of my first year of the TRAM MB-PhD programme. I shudder slightly as I transition from saying start of my first year to middle of my first year… where has the time gone?

As we all wind down to enjoy the winter break, I thought I’d end the year telling you about my unique PhD programme and a little about how I got here in the first place. (EDIT: Rowan, you ended up writing A LOT but hopefully it counts as some edutainment for the end of the year.)

What on earth is a TRAM MB-PhD?

The TRAM PhD aims to Train and Retain Academics in Musculoskeletal medicine. In hopefully simpler terms, the programme offers a unique opportunity for undergraduate medical students to engage in top-level rheumatology research during their medical (MBChB) degree at an early stage in their career. I myself, have started this PhD after completion of the fourth year of my medical degree – my experience in higher education so far has included two years of assimilating medical knowledge, one year of research for an Honours project, and one year of further learning and placement in various clinical settings. One of the goals of the TRAM-PhD programme is to inspire future leading academics in the musculoskeletal field, and that it certainly has!

So what exactly led me to do a TRAM PhD?

Exposure to rheumatology

Whilst undertaking my placement in general practice last year, I began to see my first presentations of rheumatological conditions. Shadowing the GP for the afternoon, under supervision, I managed to correctly diagnose an acute flare of gout, and I sat with intrigue as my GP tutor diagnosed an unusual case of presumed polymyalgia rheumatica in a relatively young patient. Though these cases were highly interesting, what was fascinating for me was the number of passing comments about joint and muscle aches, pains, and fatigue during consultations. It was a shame these concerns couldn’t always be discussed in more depth – there is just never enough time to address everything, both from a GP and a patient point of view. The experience during placement put into perspective the statistics: did you know around a third of the UK population live with a musculoskeletal condition? That’s just over 20 million people!

Conveniently, around this time, I saw an advertisement posted in the medical school about a new research opportunity for a TRAM-PhD. You might be surprised to hear this – I originally dismissed the idea. A Goliath impostor syndrome stemming from a lack of hard scientific experience (I haven’t been in a lab since A-Level chemistry, and even then, the COVID pandemic stole most of that experience), pushed the notification away from the top of the inbox. I was also battling with my own physical health at the time, so a PhD was definitely not on my priority list. However, about a month later, I re-visited the opportunity and decided to look at the list of available projects in more detail.

The right project for me – the application journey

There it was. Like a moth heading towards a lightbulb, I knew immediately that this was a path I wanted to take. I have always been interested in population health and how social determinants interact with health and disease. However, during my Honours project, I really homed in on the relationship between digital media and health at a population level. Staring me in the face on my laptop screen was a PhD focused on using digital technology as a means to facilitate management of gout. Immediately my brain was full to the brim with ideas on where to take this project and how to really make it my own to suit my own personal and learning interests.

To be really honest with you, I don’t remember much of the process between deciding to go for the PhD in the first place and the TRAM organiser ringing me at 10pm whilst I was cosy in bed informing me of my success. It’s safe to say I did not get an early night after that call. Of what I can remember, my PhD application consisted of (*to the tune of Twelve Days of Christmas*):

Three preliminary talks

Two application forms

and an anxiety-inducing interviewwww

Completion of my fouth year in medical school and an enjoyable post-exam summer later, I now get to call the Institute of Genetics and Cancer, and the Western General Hospital campus more generally, my home for the next 3 years. No wait, 2.5 years. Is time really going that quickly? Really though, I can’t believe it is December already. Before I blink and it’s suddenly 2025, I want to wish you all a wonderful winter break. I am of course more than happy to chat about anything TRAM-PhD related. It’s likely I will post more soon as I very much rambled on about one aspect today – the journey to the PhD. Watch this space…

 

 

 

 

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