Post by Dylan Kotecha

I am excited to announce that I have accepted an offer to start a fully-funded MBPhD at The Francis Crick Institute in the Vinuesa lab later this year. The application process was challenging and competitive, so I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to undertake my training at such an exciting lab and at Europe’s largest biomedical research centre. My work will be in autoimmunity, with a focus on Type 1 Diabetes pathogenesis, a topic I have dreamed of studying for many years as a diabetic myself. The programme takes place over four years, and I will return to UCL Medical School to complete my medical degree after it. With a milestone as large as this, I have many thank you's to give. To Carola Garcia de Vinuesa, for giving me this huge opportunity- I am very excited to work with you and cannot wait to start! To Dr Vishal Rawji, Prof Richard Milne, Prof Mahdad Noursadeghi, Natalia Żernicka-Glover, Francesco Faherty, Dr Thuvaraka Ware, Dr Athanasia Papadopoulou, and Ryan Turner for your help and support throughout the application process- I really could not have done it without you! To Prof Michael Ehrenstein, Dr Muhammad Shipa, Dr Claire Beesely and Dr Daniel McCluskey for giving me a solid foundation in and introduction to science- the time I have spent at the Rayne has taught me so much and inspired me, and I will miss it! To my friends and family for supporting and encouraging me, not just during the application process but throughout my life. And last, but certainly not least, to my parents, for giving me the upbringing and platform to follow my dreams, and for putting up with me wanting to be at university for 10 years. I have been diabetic for as long as I can remember, and to call the disease challenging would be an understatement. I decided at an early age that I wanted to help people and try to improve the lives of diabetics. Clinical medicine seemed like the obvious way to do this, but I always had one eye on academia as a way to reach the most people possible. While this is the first step of many towards this goal, it has made me ecstatic to see my dream beginning to be realised in this way, with the facilities now at my disposal thanks to the Crick. As much as 8 year old Dylan wouldn't believe where I am, I don't think 21 year old Dylan quite can either! I am determined to make the most of this opportunity and excel in these four years. If anyone is interested in academic medicine and the MBPhD programme, please feel free to contact me! Always happy to help :)