Student Spotlight: Zesha Saleem
Student Spotlights pass the mic to our student doctors, to hear their take on their School experience and shine the light on a particular role, team or pathway through the School of Medicine.
Student Doctor Zesha Saleem shares her experience of researching and writing an academic article, recently published in Wiley’s Practical Diabetes, and how this inspired her to intercalate this year.
Zesha’s journal, Diabetes in the cost-of-living crisis, is her first academic article to be published and discusses the negative impact of rising costs for those with diabetes as well as diabetes health care services. This is a huge achievement and no doubt there will be more published articles to come from Zesha in the future!
How did you get involved in academic research?
I really enjoy academics and research in general so I was always on the lookout for publication opportunities. My first introduction into medical research was through the RS projects we did in years 1 - 3, which was a good way to practise my academic writing skills through critical appraisals of papers, and then bringing everything together for my RS3, which was a systematic review. I work as a freelance newspaper journalist so I have a writing background which meant that I was comfortable with the writing aspect, so my aim in third year was to try and find an opportunity to get involved with research.
It wasn't easy, often consultants were busy with already running projects, or were a bit unsure about taking on a Medical student who was still fairly new in research. However, when I was on my Medicine B placement at Liverpool Royal Hospital in January 2023, I had a diabetes clinic with an amazing consultant. After a few clinics with him, I talked about research opportunities and he said he was always on the lookout for Medical students to work on projects with him, so we exchanged details and went from there! I had a few rough ideas and he really helped me shape it into a proper paper for publication.
I really enjoy Medicine as opposed to Surgery, so to have my first publication in a speciality I genuinely enjoyed made it a lot more fun!
How did you go about getting your findings published in Wiley's Practical Diabetes?
I was quite lucky because my supervisor helped a lot when it came to publication. However, it took us a good few months to get the paper into shape and ready for consideration, as it was my first time writing a proper academic paper. It really helps if your supervisor has had work published in that journal before but is also a little stressful as you have to meet the rigorously high standard!
What advice would you give to a fellow student interested in doing something similar?
My first advice is to use placement as an opportunity to network and try to land projects. Usually, doctors want to work with students they know, have seen around and can ensure the work and projects gets completed. After two weeks of actively attending clinics, shadowing on the wards and showing a genuine interest in this specialty, the consultant let me work with him. Talk to your doctors, ask questions (even if it seems scary) and don't be afraid of asking for research opportunities directly - if they don't have anything suitable then there's a high chance, they could give you someone else's details.
You could even ask to help with any audits that run on the wards or in GP surgeries. I would also say to take RS3 seriously - while I didn't get a publication out of it, I still learnt a lot from working on my paper. I know friends who have done conferences, and are currently shaping their projects for publication, so you can go far with it! Finally, ask upper year students for advice as a lot of them have been in your shoes before. I got a lot of advice relating to research, intercalating and more from friends in the years above, which has been very helpful.
How did the experience inspire you to intercalate?
I always had intercalation in the back of my mind but couldn't decide what to do. However, after this experience, I realised that I wanted to do a research-heavy intercalation to try and get as much experience and exposure to this side of Medicine as possible. I decided to do an MSc in Cardiovascular Health and Disease (Research) at the University of Manchester, as I enjoy cardiology and wanted to experience university life in my home city! I also knew that after third year, I wanted to spend time away from the wards and pursue my other interests for a year - currently I work two days a week as a Production journalist for The i Paper and work with the News desk at the Daily Mirror, alongside freelancing for other newspapers.
What are you most proud of this academic year?
So far, doing well in my laboratory sessions has left me feeling very pleased, as I have never done it before. I also think adapting to a new University, making new friends, and enjoying Manchester a lot more has been very fun as it feels like the first year I never had because of Covid!
What are you most looking forward to next academic year?
I'm excited to see my friends in Liverpool regularly again and to get back to studying Medicine again. However, I think it will take time to adjust from doing a Research Masters to attending placement every day and trying to do my Anki regularly!
Discover more
- Check out Zesha’s published academic article on Wiley’s website.
- The INSPIRE programme (link) supports students in academic endeavours including research, intercalation and application to the Specialised Foundation Programme. Browse through the current opportunities available.
- Get in touch with mednews@liverpool.ac.uk if you are interested in stepping into the Student Spotlight or would like to nominate a student or group to do so.