Trecia’s journey from the Caribbean to cutting-edge research in Edinburgh
by Trecia, from Jamaica, studying Biomedical Sciences (PhD)
My name is Trecia. I’m from the nice, tropical Caribbean island of Jamaica and I’m a medical doctor by training.
I’m based at the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at The Queen’s Medical Research Institute, and the focus of my research is to create nanoparticles and load them with genes. In my case, it’s to try to cure kidney disease. One day, I hope I can make effective medications from shellfish more affordable and available, especially to people in low-and middle-income countries.
My aunt, sadly, recently died from cancer and the focus of my research is really to make a drug that we can manipulate to treat any form of disease. So, my career aspiration, apart from going back into medicine and working in the labs, is to move into the pharmaceutical industry, and nicely transition through the ranks to eventually have a say in how medications are priced, and the regions in which they’re dispatched and the types of medications I get on the market. That’s the most immediate to long-term aspirations.
Why Edinburgh?
Why did I choose Edinburgh as an international student from Jamaica? Regrettably, we are not rich in terms of funding, so we have to outsource funding to undertake whatever field of interest we want to delve into.
The story is that I was in Glasgow studying when I came to Edinburgh on a day trip and I remember distinctly in that moment thinking ‘I wonder what it would feel like to work and study here?’
I’m going to share a proverb I’ve always lived by: ‘once the willingness is great, the difficulty can’t be greater’. Basically, what it means is that when you’re passionate about something, there will always be support. I’m not saying that the journey won’t be difficult, but if you persevere, you may eventually get what you want. In my case, after my Master’s in Glasgow, I went back to Jamaica to practice medicine during COVID and I applied for nine PhD’s. I got interviews for some of them and it was only after the tenth one that I got my golden opportunity, when the University of Edinburgh chose me.
At that point, I already had four degrees, and I was already making quite a reasonable amount of money doing medicine in Jamaica. So why would doing a PhD be the next logical option?
I chose Edinburgh because I knew I wanted to wake up in a city where it felt like I was living out history and even more important than that, I needed to ensure that I was going to a university that not only offered a good education; but I have unseen disabilities so I needed to know there would be adequate support in terms of student disability services.
I looked at where I was going to live and it was a ‘check-the-box’ situation. It was utopian, and it was ‘the greenest green that I’ve ever seen’. The University has a great academic standing and I also needed to know that where I was going to do research would have enough financial support for the kind of investigation that I wanted to undertake.
I also had to think about the studentship. Would the studentship be enough to help me and for those persons who depended on me? Would it also help my people back home?
So, there are many reasons, but mainly I wanted to underscore the importance of staying somewhere where my peace of mind would be maintained, and it would be an academic institution that was highly regarded.
It wasn’t rejection, it was redirection
I am funded by the British Heart Foundation and it’s a student-ship. The first year was an integrated Masters by Research and essentially because it’s the British Heart Foundation, you had to research something within the remit of cardiovascular science, meaning heart-related research. Anything that had an impact on heart health.
There are different themes within that project. You had the heart, you had obesity and diabetes, you had anything dealing with vessels and you had things to do with imaging. I had a level of control over what the downstream investigation would be. I was in a scheme where I had general topic areas and I formulated the research question that I wanted to study based on those rubrics.
I’m a fully-funded international student and I am not bonded to the United Kingdom (obligated to remain in the UK). So as soon as I’m finished, I can pack up my bags and I can go to Switzerland, or I can go back to Jamaica. I can go wherever I want to go and this is something that, for me, is very important.
You might believe that I’m probably a very positive or optimistic person, but once you plan to pursue a certain career path or anything avidly with passion, the universe finds some way to look out for you. But you must play your own part!
The advice that I would give to you is search, search, search! It is not good enough to do a one-day search or even a one-month search. You have to carry out extensive planning and research if you are going to commit three or four years of your life into a PhD programme. You need to be of the mindset that you are going to do self-directed learning and a part of the self-directed learning is how you’re going to be admitted into this PhD programme.
For me, that involved reaching out to people. I knew I didn’t want to go to the US. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the US, I just knew that it wasn’t right for me. I wanted to go to Canada or the United Kingdom. So, I sent out a massive amount of applications for each PhD project that I was going to potentially undertake. My CV and my cover letters were tailored specifically for those PhD programmes. I emailed people in Canada, in the UK and Ireland and I wrote grant applications.
You have to be willing to search whatever avenues there are for funding, for whatever PhD project you want to undertake. It meant reaching out to people from my old institution to find out if there were any PhD posts. Sadly, there weren’t, but they were willing to direct me in other areas where people could assist with possible PhD opportunities.
The Findaphd.com website is an excellent starter for liaising, for connecting with people who will know other people. It really is a connections game.
The PhD journey is never perfectly smooth, and there are bumps along the road. But I told myself that if I did my best with my cover letter and CV and I didn’t get a PhD opportunity, I wouldn’t let it get me down because it wasn’t rejection, it was redirection.
It was pointing me in a different direction, so my outlook was always, what’s the next opportunity? What’s the next application?
It goes back to not putting all your eggs in one basket. I’d already put nine eggs into the basket, and they didn’t hatch. It was out of one of those failed attempts where a supervisor emailed me because she was so impressed by my dedication and my commitment. At the time, I was on my belly on my bed, crying my eyes out saying that I’d never do a PhD.
And she said these exact words, I kid you not: ‘If you have the stomach to face another rejection, apply for the British Heart Foundation PhD Studentship’. And the rest, as they say, is history. I am now entering my final year of the British Heart Foundation studentship.
So always, always, always, to use a Jamaican word we use, be ‘stick-tuitive’. Stick to your plans. Pursue different avenues. Try not to be deterred by failure, because it’s really the fertiliser for success and that’s all I can tell you, just don’t give up! If you love something, don’t give up!
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