We’re so excited to introduce our new Senior Scientific Officer, Eve who joined the Beacon team this October!
Get to know the newest member of our team below and email her at eve@rarebeacon.org to say hello.
Welcome to the rare family, Eve!
What were you doing before you joined Beacon?
Before I joined Beacon I was working as a Clinical Trials Practitioner within the gynaecological cancer team at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, UK.
Beyond the big title, the job essentially meant I was the main contact for our patients who were having trial treatments at the hospital, the companies paying for the trial treatments, the regulators making sure the trial treatments were safe and the doctors, nurses and other researchers at Addenbrookes and across the world who were hoping that the trial treatments were effective.
Why did you choose to join the Beacon team?
While working in medical research for the last 6 years, I have grown to strongly believe that patients should be at the heart of medical research and that no one should be excluded from accessing information relating to this research.
The scientific community, however, aren’t fully on board (yet!) and still use lots of ultra-sciencey jargon. This makes getting updates on new treatments or other new findings in the rare disease space very difficult for patient groups and the wider community.
Beacon empowers patient groups to break through the barriers of jargon by linking them up with researchers, charities and other rare community leaders. Creating a united front means that no patient will face their rare journey alone and that new findings and ideas are shared more readily.
What do you want to achieve most at Beacon?
I am really excited to flex my science and communication muscles working on the REMEDi4ALL project. I hope that we can create a useful platform for patient groups, researchers, academics and beyond to help streamline and shake up the way we find new treatments for rare diseases and maximise impact on the quality of life of rare patients worldwide!
What are your hobbies outside of work?
Outside of work I am very hands on with hobbies! I have upcycled furniture in the past and am always doing DIY around the house. I often undertake smaller projects like making seasonal wreaths/decorations, pottery and sewing as well as being a keen, if only partially successful, gardener.
I think using your hands to create something is very meditative and a great way to round off a busy week.
What’s your favourite book/film/TV show and why?
My favourite film(s) are Star Wars. For me it’s a favourite if you’re channel hopping and absolutely can’t skip past it without getting caught up in it for at least 30 mins, maybe 45, okay I may as well finish watching it now…
I love Matt Haig’s writing and the most recent book of his I read was ‘How to Stop Time’. The reason I love Matt’s writing is that, in a beautiful way, he manages to make the fantastical (like a man who doesn’t age) relevant to our real, modern lives.
And that’s a wrap!
We hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about our newest Beaconite, Eve.
Remember to email her to say hello and join us in welcoming Eve to the rare family!
