Profile
Helena Jeffery
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About Me:
I’m a medical physicist living in Northampton. I’ve always been a bit of a bookworm and a Nintendo fan!
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I love fantasy books, Brandon Sanderson is my favourite author. I’m a huge animal lover and my dream is to one day open an animal rescue with my partner.
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My pronouns are:
She/her
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My Work:
I work as a medical physicist, mostly in radiology where we use physics to look inside the patients without cutting them open!
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If you’ve ever had a CT scan, MRI or x-ray you’re probably familiar with radiology. Lots of types of scanners in a hospital use radiation, which can be dangerous if we use too much – so we work to keep all the patients, staff and members of the public safe when we need to use radiation in the hospital.
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My Typical Day:
I usually wake up around 8am to have breakfast and start getting ready for work. I’m very lucky to live a five minute walk to the hospital!
We test lots of different medical scanners, and they aren’t always at the hospital where I work so I often hop in the car when I get to work and we drive to the testing site for the day. We run lots of tests on the machines and make sure they are all working properly so that patient scans show the doctor everything they need to know. If we’re lucky and nothing has gone wrong we head back to the office for lunch time.
After lunch I might write up the scientific report from the morning, and work on some research projects back in the office. Then home at 5pm.
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Every day is usually different, we test so many types of machines. There’s also a lot of different office jobs to get on with – we design the rooms the X ray machines go inside to make sure staff nearby are kept safe, we monitor the doses of radiation patients receive, report on incidents involving radiation, and get involved with anything in the hospital using radiation. I’m also currently working on my masters project and get to the masters degree as part of my job.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would use the money to get some outreach equipment and set up a local outreach programme for going into schools, clubs, and youth groups to help introduce young people into the world of medical physics.
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Education:
I went to secondary school at St Catherine’s College in Eastbourne, then moved to Bexhill Sixth Form College for my A levels. I then went to Lancaster university for my bachelor’s degree. I currently go to King’s College London for a part time masters degree.
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Qualifications:
GCSEs – triple science!! Maths, English, art, geography, french.
A levels – Maths, Further maths, Physics, Chemistry.
Undergraduate BSc – Theoretical Physics with Mathematics
Postgraduate MSc – Clinical sciences – medical physics (in progress..)
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Work History:
My first job was when I was 14, I worked as a cleaner in a care home until I was 18. While I did my degree at university I dabbled in all sorts of part time jobs – cleaning and laundry, being a student ambassador, bar work, waitressing, research internships.
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Current Job:
Trainee Clinical Scientist (Medical physics – radiation safety and diagnostic radiology)
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Employer:
Northampton general hospital NHS
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My Interview
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What did you want to be after you left school?
I had no idea! I thought I might stay in academia forever when I left sixth form. When I was little I always wanted to be a hairdresser, but I've tried cutting my own hair and it doesn't end so well.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not very often, but I was sometimes told off for being too chatty and distracting my classmates. I sometimes got in trouble for not doing my homework because I was only interested in doing the science ones.
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Perhaps some sort of engineering, maybe nuclear?
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Alkaline Trio
What's your favourite food?
Anything sweet
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Happiness, to be able to travel the world, and unlimited cats.
Tell us a joke.
Dogs can't operate a scanner, but CAT scan!
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