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Where did you grow up and go to school?
I grew up in Smithton and on a farm in Black River on the North-West Coast of Tasmania. I completed Years 7-11 at Smithton High School and Year 12 at Hellyer College.
What inspired you to be a scientist?
I was always fascinated with biology, how we and other animals were put together and 'how we worked' and what happened when we 'got sick'.
What did you study at university?
It was a choice between Veterinary Science and Medicine for me. I completed a Medical degree in 1999, including an additional year of Medical Research and then onto an Internship at The Royal Hobart Hospital in 2000. Following this I took some time to explore, travelling for 11 months in 2001 around Europe, Middle East, North and Central America. I returned to Royal Hobart Hospital in 2002 and in 2003 commenced training to become an Anatomical Pathologist. As part of Pathology training I had the opportunity to follow my fascination with 'how we work' and undertake a PhD. I commenced a PhD looking at the Vitamin D3 and the Skin Immune System at the end of March 2004.
What's your current field of research?
Making the shift from clinical to laboratory based medicine was difficult, but suited my interest in how diseases 'came about', it addition to the recognition and treatment of disease. I am particularly interested in the failures of our immune system, resulting in disease. These diseases include food and insect-bite allergies, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis and also cancer. With respect to cancer we believe that the immune system fails to recognise and destroy dangerous pre-cancerous and cancerous cells allowing the cells to divide and spread throughout the body. Deciphering the immune systems' function and its failures has the potential to allow us to prevent allergies and autoimmune disease as well as treating disease by harnessing the body's immune system, potentially using it to kill cancer cells, allowing us to be a healthier happier community!
What do you love about Science?
I find that everyday you use skills that science involves, observation, identification, description, testing and analysis, to provide explanations of what you see and hear! So we are all scientists learning what we need to know each day, in some sort of fashion! What I love particularly about science is that you can be putting together results from experiments and discover something new, and at that point in time you may be the only person in the world that knows that small piece of knowledge.
There is still so much to learn!
What would you like to do in future?
The future career prospects depend on the availability of research funding and potential Anatomical Pathology Registrar positions. I'd like to stay in Tasmania.
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