Profile
Bhagteshwar Singh
My first chat with a school today!
My CV
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Education
I went to a few primary schools. We moved about a bit when I was young. I spent most time at Altrincham Church of England Primary School in Manchester.
I then went to Altrincham Grammar School. I did my GCSEs and A-levels there.
When I was 18 I went to Manchester University, for my main degree.
Since then I’ve been studying in hospitals and at home. My exams were run by the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh) and the Royal College of Pathologists.
I’m now doing a PhD degree at the University of Liverpool. -
Qualifications
I did GCSEs in 10 subjects.
Then I did A-levels in Maths (my favourite), Further Maths (because I really like Maths) and Biology. I also did Chemistry, Punjabi and General Studies.
After that I studied Medicine. That took 5 years. We spent 2 years in the University, and 3 years in hospitals.
About 3 years after that, I did a course in tropical medicine. This was at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
And a year later, I did some exams that doctors who see patients with lots of different health problems do. There are 3 exams. We call the whole thing the MRCP, which stands for Membership of the Royal College of Physicians. Sounds fancy, I know.
I did an exam for doctors who treat people with infections after that, called the CICE. That’s short for Combined Infection Certificate Exam.
I’m now doing a PhD. This is a course people do to try to become an expert in an area. -
Work History
Foundation Doctor (Every doctor does lots of different jobs in the 2 years just after medical school, so we can become any type of doctor later.)
Trainee at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (I worked at a big hospital in India for 6 months. I did research as part of my job for the first time, on tuberculosis [TB] and HIV)
Locum doctor in Emergency Departments (I worked in A and E in a few hospitals that needed an extra doctor for a few months.)
Research Fellow (A short job doing research on pneumonia.)
Core Medical Trainee (2 years in a few hospitals, learning about some medical subjects in lots of detail.)
Infectious Diseases Registrar (A senior doctor job. Lots of patients with infections and tropical diseases.) -
Employer
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About Me:
I’m a doctor and scientist working on brain infections and COVID-19. I’ve been living in India for the last 2 years. I like food, badminton, walking up hills, and watching stuff online.
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I usually live in Liverpool with my brother. For the last 2 years, I’ve been in Vellore. It’s a city in India with an old fort and tasty food. I don’t speak Tamil (the language here) well. But people understand my English or Hindi (another Indian language) usually! I like walking up hills and mountains, playing badminton, and cycling. At home, I like watching things: films, series, and cricket. And catching up with friends on the phone and video-calls. I help run a charity that keeps people healthy and helps poor children stay in school in India. I like seeing new places. I buy a fridge magnet from each new place I visit. I like exploring. I can’t sit on the beach all day!
This is Vellore, from a hill just outside the city.
This is me doing a tour of the Vellore Fort for scientists I work with from Brazil, India, Malawi and the UK.
This is me (left hand side) walking up a mountain with my brother (right).
This is me exploring Recife, the city where we work in Brazil, on a bike.
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My Work:
I run two big research projects in Brazil, India and Malawi. One is improving care for people with brain infections. The other is trying to work out how and why COVID-19 causes problems with the brain.
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I’m a doctor. I treat people with infections. For the last 2 years, I’ve been doing research, which is a way of using science to answer important questions. I work on questions about infections of the brain, like meningitis and encephalitis. I also help find out more about COVID-19.I work in a group of scientists doing research on brain infections. We’re called Brain Infections Global. It’s really important to find out why someone has a brain infection. They are dangerous, so we need to work out which medicine will make people better. Giving the right medicines is easier when you know what has led to the infection. We’re trying to work out how we can make sure more people get an answer. And how to get the answer more quickly. We work in the UK, India, Malawi (in Africa), and Brazil. So I was travelling a lot! But like everyone, I’m not travelling as much now.When the COVID-19 pandemic started, we had to stop doing our research. We decided to try to help fight COVID-19. I started working on this with the WHO (World Health Organization). We also started new research about COVID-19.Doctors started seeing people unwell with COVID-19, who had problems with their brain. Some people have weak arms or legs. Others can’t think or talk like they would before COVID-19. Some scientists even found the virus in the brain. We started trying to work out what was going on. How common is this? What are the different types of problem with the brain that we see? Is it always because of COVID-19? Why do some people with COVID-19 get problems with the brain, and some don’t?We’ve started answering these questions with new research. We’re asking doctors around the world to tell us about the patients they’ve seen. We are also finding out more about people as they come into our hospitals in Brazil, India and Malawi. That’s with our Brain Infections Global team. Soon, we’ll be starting the other research again, on all brain infections. It’s going to be busy! But fun.
One of the Brain Infections Global team getting ready to look after patients with COVID-19 in Malawi.
Our Brain Infections Global team
This is my boss, Professor Tom Solomon, telling lots of scientists about our work on COVID-19 brain disease.
This is a meeting of our Brain Infections Global group in London last year.
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My Typical Day:
I drag myself out of bed. I like sleep. But once I’m up, I can’t wait to start work. I eat something, and switch my laptop on. I don’t have a typical day after that! Sometimes, I go into a hospital to speak to doctors or find out about patients. Or I go to offices to meet other scientists. But now I stay at home most of the time, and work on my laptop. I have lots of video calls with people in my team, or other scientists. But I also use my laptop to answer questions about brain infections and COVID-19.
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Until the COVID-19 pandemic I might have woken up in Brazil, the UK, or Malawi. Now I’m always in India.I get up in the morning. Not really early. I don’t like getting up early! And it works, because I have to talk to people in other parts of the world later in my day.I eat breakfast, with coffee, and wake myself up fully.I then do loads of different things. I don’t have a typical day. I’ll tell you what I’m doing today!I first worked on a form that we’re using to find out things about patients in hospitals. This is really important because we need to make sure we’re asking everything we need to first time. We can’t keep going back to the patients… they’ll get annoyed!Then I did some work with statisticians We’re trying to make sense of what doctors have told us about patients with brain problems and COVID-19. Statisticians look at information we’ve found, and turn it into an answer. I always feel like I’m learning lots when I speak to them!After that I helped to run a meeting about how to treat patients in hospital with COVID-19. I work with a team of doctors at the Christian Medical College to do this every week. We’ve done a few new things for COVID-19, like use helmets to make people breathe better.Then I spoke to our research group’s manager. We talk about how to get things done about twice a week. We make plans, and solve problems. She’s very good at solving problems.After lunch (heated leftovers from last night… mmm…), I spoke to scientists in Malawi and Brazil. We’re trying to set up the COVID-19 brain disease project in hospitals there, and in India. So there are lots of things to sort out!Then I spoke to our project’s manager. I speak to her most days. We’re starting our brain infections project again. And we have the new COVID-19 project. So we have lots of work to do! Today we were planning two big meetings next month. One is for the older project, which has over 80 people joining us by video call! The other meeting is for the new project. It’s a bit smaller… 30 scientists.Now I’m working on my I’m a Scientist profile! Then I’ll fill out some forms to make sure the University knows exactly what we are doing in our project. I used to find filling out forms boring, but I now know this is so important. Everyone needs to make sure we are doing the research in the right way.I had lots of video calls today. I sat at my desk a lot!Tomorrow will be different, though. I’ll be going to the hospital to see how we’ll find patients for our new project. That will be fun, and I’ll get some fresh air!
This is the office where I work at the Christian Medical College, Vellore.
Tired at the end of a long day of video calls! But we’ve got a lot of work done.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Solving science riddles is what research is all about. But one question leads to another few questions. And they all link in with each other. I want to show school students how this works, and how exciting it can be. I’ll set up a brain-related science project in a park or in a school playground. There’ll be challenging questions and clues. It’ll be like an escape room, but outdoors!
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In research we answer questions about science. Sometimes these questions are a bit like riddles, that need to be solved. But answering one question leads to another few questions. Getting through one challenge shows you the next few. Sometimes you even need to answer some new questions to answer the first properly! It’s all a bit of a maze. And you have to remember what your first question was, when you’re on question number 10. I want to show school students what this is like. And how exciting the process can be.With a small team of scientists, I plan to set up a pop-up science project in a park. There’ll be different places to start for each team. Clues will lead to answers, which will lead to other questions. Some questions will be easy, but others will be difficult. There will be a prize at the end, which each team of students can try to get.The theme will be to do with brain research. It might be based on what we’re doing with our brain infections project. Or if we find something really interesting with our COVID-19 brain disease project, it might be based on that. So students will see how a real project is set up and run. And how it can answer questions which tell us how to care for patients better.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Friendly, Nosy, Persistent
What or who inspired you to follow your career?
Seeing what doctors and scientists do, on TV and in real life.
What was your favourite subject at school?
Maths
What did you want to be after you left school?
A doctor
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Yes, but only a bit!
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
I’d be a teacher. I love teaching medical students, junior doctors and junior scientists.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
I don’t really have one. But I like a lot of songs by Kula Shaker, Damien Rice and Norah Jones (I like variety!).
What's your favourite food?
My mum’s!
What is the most fun thing you've done?
It’s still going on rides at Alton Towers!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1: I wish I could spend more time outdoors. 2: I wish I could cook better. 3: I wish I could dance.
Tell us a joke.
I’m really funny. My friends would tell you that’s a joke.
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My profile link:
https://ias.im/u.264893
My Comments