Profile
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Rochelle Velho
Curriculum Vitae
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Education:
SLGS girls school, Birmingham and Bristol university and currently spare time masters at Warwick university.
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Qualifications:
Medical degree, Bachelors in Anatomy and nearly at the end of my Public Health masters.
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Work History:
NHS
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Current Job:
A&E doctor
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Employer:
NHS
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My work
I am a medical doctor that works in the emergency department with research that combines space medicine and intensive care medicine.
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I am an junior doctor training to be a researcher in space medicine and a consultant intensive care doctor. As a doctor in the NHS, I am privileged to be constantly learning: how to perform clinical skills, how to think like a scientist and how the world works. My objective is to transfer knowledge from space researchers to earth researchers, to help terrestrial patients.
My training has taken me to all sorts of places but it all started in the UK. My passion for space medicine started at school during physics lessons, and space summer schools. Then at university, I had a chance to attend the European Space Agency Space Medicine Workshop. Since then I have become involved in the UK Space Bio-medicine Association that helps build conferences for space medical researchers.
My interest in space medicine led me to research emergency medical procedures for astronauts in Brazil with Kings College London. Currently I am also working with Analog Astronauts at the Austrian Space Forum as a medical officer. I have been lucky enough to talk about the work I do to doctors and astronauts, including Tim! With a little imagination, hard work and enthusiasm – anything is possible! Ad astra!
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My Typical Day
It involves a lot of metaphorical juggling.
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Fortunately, there is never a typical day and I can honestly say every day is different. I work around my shifts at work, which can vary from day today. The only way it works is writing a to do list on a Sunday and then drawing up a timetable.
This way I can manage to work on A&E, fit in my research time, exercise daily, read fictional space novels like Dune, paint, dance, sing, meet with family/friends and sleep.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Passionate space medic
What was your favourite subject at school?
Gratin. I still love reading about early scientists and philosophers in ancient civilizations. Their ideas are still important today and continue to influence scientists like me today.
What did you want to be after you left school?
I did lots of work experience placements. I love my clinical job but I am also crazy about space. I always wanted to be someone like Astronaut Mike Baratt, an astronaut doctor!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Well there was this one time that my Chemistry experiment went pearshaped….
What is the most fun thing you've done?
Sung Starlight by Muse as part of an Acapella arrangement with about a hundred other voices. Glee – eat your heart out :)
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