Profile
Nicole Wheeler
My CV
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Education:
I went to a few different schools in New Zealand, then university in my hometown in NZ, studying Biochemistry.
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Qualifications:
International Baccalaureate, BSc Biochemistry, PhD Biochemistry
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Work History:
I had a few jobs in high school – delivering flyers, working at a petrol station, working in a few clothing stores. I got a job in university working in a lab that studies heart disease. After university, I got a job at the Sanger Institute in the UK researching infectious disease, and hope to start a permanent job researching and teaching at a university soon.
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Current Job:
Data Scientist
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About Me:
I’m a data scientist, originally from New Zealand, doing infectious disease and antibiotic resistance research in the UK. I’m helping to build a world-first AI engine for tracking, tracing and tackling antibiotic resistance
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I come from New Zealand, and moved to the UK after my PhD to work on infectious diseases.
I grew up on a farm with lots of animals and originally wanted to be a vet when I grew up. I love the mountains, hiking in the forest and finding cool wildlife like baby seals!
When I’m not working, I love reading, running, and weightlifting 💪🏻.
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I started my career working in a laboratory, studying human diseases, but fell in love with computer programming.
The groups I worked in always needed more people who knew maths and computer programming, so I ended up moving to work only with computers, processing data into forms that are easy to interpret, building computer models of diseases and building apps and programs to help people working in public health to make better decisions.
Now I work as a Data Scientist, a job I hadn’t even heard of when I was at university, which means I’m an expert at working with large, messy datasets and using them to find insights about how the world works. An important part of this job is to find ways of presenting information (like data visualisation) to people who need to make decisions in a way that is clear and helps them decide what the best course of action is.
My work also takes me all over the world. Infectious diseases are a global problem, so scientists around the world have to work together to fight them.
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My Typical Day:
My work life hasn’t changed much since lockdown. All of my work is done on a computer, so I can work from anywhere! My work spans a lot of fields, so I get to talk and work with experts from different areas, like medicine and government, and have fun throwing around ideas about how to solve problems people face in trying to fight infectious disease.
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I do a mix of:
– computer programming
– building cool ways to visualise data
– writing scientific documents for other scientists to read
– writing blogs and magazine articles to explain what I’ve found to the public
– giving talks about my work to other scientists and the public
– meeting with other people to discuss projects and come up with ideas
– reading what other people are up to in scientific journals and on TwitterWorking with computers means I don’t always need to go in to the office. Once a year I travel back to New Zealand to see family, and work from home for a few weeks.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I love computer games, and would love to make a game that simulates disease outbreaks and allows us to experiment with different ways of fighting the outbreak.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Kind, creative, curious
What did you want to be after you left school?
I had no idea! Something to do with science and health, so I studies biochemistry to give me lots of options
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I was a teacher's pet
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Bic Runga
What's your favourite food?
At the moment, homemade pizza for sure!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1) that my research helped save people's lives 2) that I could snap my fingers and be back home in New Zealand whenever I liked 3) the ability to freeze time - I always have so much I want to do!
Tell us a joke.
What's brown and sticky? A stick
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