Passionate about medical research and particularly keen on ophthalmology, Alastair chose the MRes Clinical Sciences as a way of furthering his knowledge and skills in these areas.
“I was most looking forward to learning how to do programming for artificial intelligence and I ended up doing two projects using AI. It was something I didn’t know anything about before and I wanted to get that basic understanding, which I did manage to get. AI is a lot of maths, which I didn't realise, but a lot of the code is already available on a lot of platforms.
The MRes is different to the MBChB course because there's a lot more self-directed learning.
You have a deadline which is 12 weeks to do your project in and it's up to you to do what you need and get the support from your supervisors when you need it.
My second project was a lab-based project. The lab is very different to anything I've ever experienced before. There's a lot of dangerous things in the lab which you've got to be careful of. From as simple as getting cut by glass to getting a toxic substance on you.
I had to work at 38 degrees Celsius for a lot of the project because we were replicating human conditions so I was having to go in a hot room a lot, which was quite tough.
But it was definitely really interesting to see how this sort of translational medicine happens at the bench rather than the bedside, as we always see at the bedside.
I've just submitted one of my projects to a journal and I've just been accepted for a conference to present the work in Portugal. So, I'm sort of implementing these things because these are the things I would like to do as a doctor.
The biggest reason a student doctor should intercalate is because you can explore an interest of yours in a lot more detail than you can otherwise.
For me, that was ophthalmology and that will really benefit me going forward when I'm applying to specialty.
It also meant I could really get to know whether the specialty is actually something I really want to do. And I know after doing that hat yeah, it is.
Coming back into Fourth Year, I know how much I've missed Medicine, but I am definitely still keen to do one day a week of research or education and from doing the intercalation I know that it's still something that I want to do and I think that's what's really good.”
Alastair was a recipient of a prestigious Wolfson Foundation intercalated degree award administered by the Royal College of Physicians. Each year, Liverpool School of Medicine can nominate up to three outstanding student doctors for this award. Learn more on the Intercalation Awards and Scholarships page of the student intranet (link).