Rhubarb 2021

An inter view with DR Maxine Mackintosh

INTERVIEW

M axine (Mac’s, 2006-2011) left Teddies in 2011 and went on to UCL to study Biomedical Sciences, after which she completed an MSc in Health Economics and a PhD in Health Data Science. Following a research position between The Alan Turing Institute,The Health Foundation and the University of Oxford, she now works at Genomics England as Programme Lead on Diverse Data. She is also an advocate for inclusion in technology and co-founded One HealthTech, an international, grassroots, federated community of health technologists.

What did you do after leaving Teddies? I went straight to university where I did Biomedical Sciences at

UCL, focussing on neuroscience and

pharmacology i.e. the effects of drugs on the brain. During my undergrad I was lucky to have some really interesting internships and work experiences which helped punctuate my time, ranging from working in Kenya with micro-businesses, to interning in L’Oréal’s scientific team.The most formative one, maybe, was where I simply cold-emailed some of the most senior individuals in the pharmaceutical industry. Miraculously one replied and I spent a few months in Basel advising the Chief Technology Officer of Roche Diagnostics on their global strategy.A bit mad for a 19 year old but hey ho. What do you do now? I recently started a role at Genomics England, which is slightly unusual in that it’s a private company owned by the Department of Health and Social Care and carries

out lots of genetic sequencing services in the NHS and then makes that data available for research. I’m leading a programme called “Diverse Data” which aims to ensure genomic medicine works for everyone. Currently, most of the genetic data we have in the world is from people of European ancestry. My programme aims to sequence individuals from under- represented backgrounds, carry out new engagement strategies to build long-term partnerships, and also do lots of interesting data science to make sure the current analyses we do are as fair as possible. It’s a great mix of community, diversity, statistics and policy! Did Teddies help prepare you for what you do today? Teddies definitely encouraged the all-rounder in me (I also did the IB). I remember oscillating between writing a personal statement for social science, language and science

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