I joined the Royal Navy as a Medical Cadet in 2009 whilst at the University of Southampton.
On completion of university, I started work as a Foundation Doctor at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and quickly integrated into supporting the hospital community. Awarded the Outstanding Foundation Year 1 Doctor of the Year award, I wanted to ensure Junior Doctors voices were heard as the Chair of the hospital Junior Doctor Committee. 2013 to 2016, saw two deployments to the Arabian Gulf as the Medical Officer for a destroyer and in support of mine countermeasure operations, where I was awarded the Oliver Sword, an annual Medical Officer Award for leadership. This time away included an exciting opportunity to lead on a healthy lifestyle project as part of the Second Sea Lord’s Feeding the Fleet initiative where I delivered weight management classes, nutrition support and tried a range of innovations to get people active.
With a keen interested in leadership and wanting to develop myself further, I pursued a Masters in Leadership for the Healthcare Professionals graduating with a Distinction and gained the 2nd place student award and distinction at the Defence Academy Maritime Intermediate Staff and Command Course. In 2016, I commenced Emergency Medicine training back in Plymouth and started on an Academic Clinical Fellowship where I led a nationwide study to research ways to improve the working lives of Emergency Department staff. The last three years I have been undertaking a PhD to improve outcomes for military trauma patients.