Profile

I love spending time with my family and we are always off exploring different places in the UK or abroad. We have visited cities like Bath, Oxford, London, Liverpool, Cheddar Gorge and Hastings. We have travelled to Maderia, Turkey, Tunisia and Florida.

I have an interest in true crime and love how the police and scientist work together to prove whether someone is guilty or not guilty.

I enjoy cooking different dishes from recipes, inviting friends and family over to enjoy the feast that is made.

I spend my quiet time reading fantasy and thrillers. I love the magic that comes from watching a film and the escapism that you get from it. I watch different films depending on how I feel from Marvel to romantic comedies to thrillers.

I am head of Serology within my department. My role is to ensure the quality of the tests is performed to a high standard and the right result is achieved within a timely manner.

I assist in HLA antibody testing and crossmatching. In basic terms, we assess patients to see they have produced any antibodies against foreign HLA molecules which can make matching to a kidney difficult. These antibodies are against HLA molecules.

Crossmatching is where we take patient serum from blood and add it to potential donor white blood cells and look for reactivity. This test checks to see the donor is compatible with the patient and if so the kidney transplant can go ahead.

I start my day at work by scheduling the team’s tasks for the day. We perform crossmatching and HLA antibody testing. It is important that these results are thoroughly checked and reported to the doctors and nurses so they can make clinical decisions in a timely manner. I answer emails and telephone queries from doctors and nurses regarding patient care.

I ensure all testing is performed to the highest standard and make sure all techniques are validated before use.

As an on-call crossmatcher the phone can ring at any time and I will be called to say there is an available deceased donor kidney offer for a patient registered on the list. My job is to check if this donor is compatible but looking at the patient’s history and if they are HLA antibody negative. If they are then I give the go-ahead to transplant without any further testing. If the patient has these antibodies then I will perform a compatibility test (Crossmatching) to assess if the transplant can go ahead. A negative result is good and means that donor and patient are compatible.

The job is very rewarding but also very important to know the background and use your experience to make the right decisions for the patient.