Having come from an engineering background, I decided to pursue my postdoctoral experience in computer science, and I loved it. Just after submitting my thesis in Spring 2023, I started a research position at TIA, working with Dr Shan Raza on early detection of oral cancer and in collaboration with University of Sheffield. Reflecting on my first year at TIA, I have got much to say!

Despite being quite an interesting (and imperative) topic, computational pathology requires a solid understanding of both the technical and clinical aspects of the pathology. So, I embarked on a fascinating learning journey that changed the way I perceived medical research. Not only I got day-to-day guidance and encouragement from my line manager, Shan, but the TIA’s atmosphere of camaraderie and helpfulness nurtured both my work experience as well as my confidence in my work and its importance in the grand scheme. You don’t only learn to model cancer growth at TIA, you also learn the soft skills needed to thrive in a research environment.

Another benefit of working with a research centre that thrives on going above and beyond is that excellence becomes a natural endeavour, and ambition is just infectious. During my first year at TIA, I managed to take part in several conferences in the UK and abroad, published a conference paper, participated in a medical registration challenge, and contributed to the centre’s open-source computational pathology project, TIAToolbox. I also co-applied for a grant application with Shan and Sheffield. During each of those projects, I have worked with different members of the TIA centre, learned new skills encompassing software engineering, deep learning, technical writing, verbal and written communication, project management, and of course, team working.

All in all, the TIA is a unique place where talented individuals team up to solve cancer’s most challenging problems, computationally!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank CRUK for funding the Precision Vision Project and Abdullah’s role in this project.