Profile

I live with my wife and two boys in The Gambia.  We have a rescue dog and cat that adopted us over the last 2.5 years we have been here.

My wife and I are both paediatricians and studied and trained in the UK.  I love travelling and living in other countries and before moving to The Gambia I worked in Ethiopia, Kenya, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Our favorite thing to do is to go camping on the beach or by the river with our dog (see some photos below!)

I moved to The Gambia in 2017 to study how the environment influences genes that control appetite and body weight.  I am coming in to my final year of my PhD.

The team in The Gambia have previously shown that mother’s nutrition can influence marks (‘epigenetic’ marks to be more technical!) on DNA in their children.  I am hoping to discover what these changes to the DNA mean with regards how we eat and our body weight.

In The Gambia we have a wet and dry season which effects what people can grow and therefore eat.  This change in season can also lead to changes in body weight (nearly 5 kg change on average!).  I have been measuring children and mother’s weight and body make up over a year to understand how changes (‘epigenetic’ marks) to their DNA can influence this change in weight and body make up.  I have also examined how these DNA changes can influence their appetite and hunger.

I am currently in the lab measuring these changes to the DNA…..which is proving quite a challenge.

Its the hope that this research may help us explore how changing a mother’s diet may help to prevent diseases such as obesity and diabetes in their children.

My day to day work has changed alot of the last 3 years.  I will give a brief overview of what I have been doing.

At the start of my PhD I had to do a lot of reading.  This led to the design of the study.  This step involved many hours reading and ensuring I understood all of the evidence that had been published before by other scientists/doctors in the field.

The next step meant I had to do a lot of writing of proposals to get the design as I wanted it and to get money to do the project! Then this proposal gets read by senior scientists who 1) say if its ethical to do the study 2) give you pointers to make it better.

After these approvals (and you have some money) it came to plan my field work.  This meant I had to assemble a team (10 field workers, 2 nurses, drivers, cooks and lab staff) and ensure they knew what the plan was.  I also met with leaders in the local villages here to ensure they were aware of the study and answer any questions they had.  Then the study starts!!!

Off to the field for 12 months, meeting people, measuring people and making sure the data was accurate!

After this I have been in the lab working on my samples I collected.  Currently I am looking at the these marks on the DNA which is challenging and takes 2-3 days before you know if your experiment has worked.  I also have been doing statistical analysis on some of my results which is the exciting bit!

As I am a paediatrician too (though mainly doing research currently), I do still go and see patients on the ward.  I do this about once a week and I love keeping this side of my job going!