Mental health & education - IBMSPod Ep.11
In September's episode, IBMS fellow and Specialist Scientific Lead in clinical chemistry Azuma Kalu joined us. The pandemic has increased the burden on pathology services to the detriment of some of our member's mental health and wellbeing, inspiring Azuma to take the lead in highlighting the topic across the profession.
Azuma discussed how the pandemic has changed the nature of the workplace and reminds us of the issues biomedical scientists, healthcare and support staff have faced during the pandemic. He then talked us through the progress we've made in recent months to improve our members' mental health and overall quality of working lives. In doing so, he emphasised the benefits senior staff will reap when returning to the workplace for both them and more junior team members.
Azuma also talks to us about how his PhD in cancer genomics could lead to a test for the recurrence of prostate cancer for those in remission.
This month's LabLife explores the issues Biomedical Science students have faced throughout the pandemic. Special guest host Martin Khechara interviews IBMS eStudent Steven Schnabel. He's been on placement in an NHS laboratory throughout the pandemic while also conducting public engagement on behalf of the profession. He takes us through his personal experience and the challenges students have faced and provides some tips to students returning to campus and face-to-face learning in the new academic year.
Martin Khechara is an IBMS fellow and senior lecturer in Microbiology at Wolverhampton University and associate professor for public engagement. He recently completed the British Media Associations's media placement with the Naked Scientists podcast.
How to listen
To listen to any of our podcasts, series 1 and 2, as well as subscribe to future episodes, visit:
Episode outline
0:33 – IBMS News
1:55 – Feature Interview with Azuma Kalu
1:55 - Part 1: Cancer genomics PhD research – introduction to Azuma's work in Clinical Chemistry and PhD project which explores how spotting changes in Long Non-Coding RNAs (lncRNAs) could be the key in spotting the remission of prostate cancer early .
17:40 – Part 2: Mental health, wellbeing in the workplace post-covid - discussion of issues biomedical scientists are likely to face as they adjust to a new post-covid normal in the lab.
29:15 – Quick-fire round
31:51 - LabLife with Steven Schnabel & Co-host Dr Martin Khechara
Links to further resources
IBMS News:
- We're launching an exciting new website
- President elect presents to parliamentary committee
- Jen Johnson Bursary winners 2022
- Congress poster deadline extended
Azuma Kalu:
- The Biomedical Scientist: The shadow of the pandemic: redefining the workplace (September 2021); Blast off for Biomedical Science (February 2021); Boiling Point: Workplace Pressures (October 2020)
- The Biomedical Scientist Live 2020: wellbeing and managing workplace pressure in the pandemic
- IBMS Health & Wellness resources
- In 'The Conversation': Cancer: how one type of RNA could be the future of treatment
- Frontiers Review: Coding or noncoding, the converging concepts of RNAs
- Azuma Profile & follow on Twitter
LabLife with Steven Schnabel & Martin Khechara