A successful year-long work placement, a six-month internship with a charity and mentoring first-year undergraduates are just some of the highlights for a Master’s science student at De Montfort University (DMU) who is now embarking on a career as a physician associate.
Khushbu Patel has now spent five productive years at DMU after graduating with first-class honours for her BSc Biomedical Science degree and more recently completing a Master’s in Advanced Biomedical Science.
The 23-year-old says she is “now looking forward to working in the NHS and making a huge difference in patients’ lives”.
She also has plenty of praise for the university, saying: “Studying at DMU for the past five years has been a great learning and growth curve for me. I have become more confident and independent in comparison to the person I was before I came here.
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“I chose to study a post-graduate degree because I wanted to enhance and widen my opportunities to get a good job. I knew having a Master’s would open up doors to careers that would have been difficult to get into with just a bachelor’s degree as there is a lot of competition. Getting an opportunity to gain more knowledge and skills was ideal for me.
“The facilities and teaching at DMU are really good. The lecturers were very supportive when it came to getting advice and feedback on improving my performance with exams and assignments. The library’s post-graduate research room also helped me with completing assignments and with my revision.”
Khushbu, who is originally from Pudsey, near Leeds, finished her Master’s research in September and the graduation ceremony is set for January 2018.
Her Master’s research project revolved around investigating the effects of new flavonoids [part of a plant/fungus] in a way that has never been done before. Any promising results from the flavonoids, which could have anti-cancer properties, would certainly have the potential to be published in a medical research journal.
It also enabled her to learn several new techniques in the lab, including working with cell cultures, which are widely used in research and pharmaceuticals fields.
She has now secured a post-graduate place at the University of Leeds Medical School to study a diploma towards becoming a physician associate, healthcare professionals who support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients at a GP surgery or hospital.
Khushbu said: “DMU has definitely helped me gain the knowledge, skills and work experience that is required for this career. Giving me the opportunity to undertake an internship, the work placement and a Master’s degree will all help me succeed and be a great physician associate.
“I am very excited in undertaking this journey. Being compassionate as a person, I’m looking forward to working in the NHS and making a huge difference in patients’ lives.”
Another aspect of her rich experience at DMU was a six-month Frontrunners internship at the Leicester arthritis support group charity CLASH where she formed a team with a rheumatologist and other biomedical students to create a mobile phone app and an informative leaflet for people with long-term rheumatoid arthritis.
Khushbu said: “This again was a great experience. I got an opportunity to work with a healthcare professional and the fact I was able to help patients was really rewarding and satisfactory.”
Looking back on her five-year tenure at DMU, she said: “My highlight was achieving my first-class degree at an amazing graduation ceremony in July 2016. I was very proud of myself as all the hard work I put in had paid off.”
Posted on Wednesday 22 November 2017