I have always been interested in knowing ‘why’ and ‘how’ of human health and disease. This curiosity led me to train as a clinical biochemist and I spent a few years setting up and running a medical biochemistry lab in India. Automation in clinical biochemistry made me realise that I wanted to explore more into human health. I changed paths slightly and spent more than a decade doing a PhD and then post-doctoral fellowships within the field of biomedical science with more of a focus on genetics and genomics, before ending up in an academic post. I love my job as I am still a learner and I think I will always be one. Sharing my experiences with my students motivates me and I hope that my students develop a mind-set of learning and enjoying science rather than just passing exams.
I am a firm believer that unless we disseminate the knowledge created in research, it is limited to just a fraction of academics or professionals. In addition to bringing my research into my classrooms, I am passionate about taking it to the general public. I take every opportunity for public engagement and love to break down complex knowledge to digestible chunks. It is thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding to hear the feedback.
My journey to find answers to ‘why’ and ‘how’ has been long, tiring, frustrating at times, exciting, rewarding but overall, immensely enjoyable.
Maninder Ahluwalia
Programme Director for MSc Biomedical Science