Could you give a brief introduction of yourself?
I am a scientific professional who has worked in the MedTech industry for 17 years. I obtained her BSc in Cellular and Molecular Pathology from Bristol University then completed her PhD at Newcastle University in nutritional biosciences and bowel cancer, before moving into the pharmaceutical and medtech industry. For the last 10 years, I have collaborated with healthcare professionals to complete healthcare evaluations, gain real-world evidence and understand the value of implementing new technologies into the NHS. I currently work as a Senior Health Economics and Reimbursement Program Manager for Cook Medical supporting global health economics and outcomes research activities.
What made you decide to join Executive MSc Evaluation of Health Care Interventions and Outcomes (now Executive MSc Healthcare Decision-Making)
At the time, pre-pandemic, I was submitting HTA dossiers to NICE with no formal training, I felt would benefit from this programme specifically as it was in collaboration with NICE, and also it covered the quasi-experimental research, something very much outside of my expertise.
All in all, the programme offered a broad range of insights which would be directly beneficial to what I do.
Now that you have completed the programme, how did you find it? What was the most exciting aspect of your programme experience?
It was tough! Balancing short deadlines on top of a full-time professional career and family commitments is hard, but it was worth it! We had a really great cohort who supported and encouraged each other, through this experience I have gained more than knowledge but a better network of peers, and that is invaluable.
Dawn was the winner of the The Brian Abel-Smith Prize for Best overall performance and Best Dissertation in 2022/23.
Do you have any comment on receiving the Brian Abel-Smith Prizes?
Well Stunned to be honest - I was not really aware these prizes existed. I’m really pleased about the award for my dissertation as I’d plan to answer a simple question well and to be honest, I did waiver a bit that my topic might be a bit dull. My peers seemed to be tackling more interesting and complicated ideas than I was. Although I did stick to my guns and I am now preparing the manuscript to be submitted to a journal - so let's see what happens there.
With respect to winning the award for best overall performance -that was the biggest surprise as during the first year I was a solid merit achiever - annoyingly solid, and I was disappointed not to have achieved a single distinction grade. I am always someone to do my best and I could have chosen to ease back and accept the merit, but it's not in my nature -I still wanted at least one distinction. So to turn things around and to achieve a distinction overall is great, truly great I was more than I could have expected and testament to being resilient and working hard. BUT to achieve the best overall is, well I still can't believe it even though I see the award before me.