Alumni in the News: Sophie Nash

Scientist Sophie Nash (St Mary’s, 2011) has worked through the pandemic with Public Health England. In our latest ‘Alumni in the News’ feature, Sophie tells us her story.

“Having done the IB at Worth I went on to Queen Mary University in London to take a degree in Biology. My love of the subject then took me to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to complete my Masters in Public Health.

“For the last four years I have been working at Public Health England in the HIV team, assessing the quality of care delivered, ensuring that there are no disparities and helping to produce outputs to aid with the UK’s effort to eliminate HIV transmission.

“In the middle of February last year I started working on the COVID-19 response. The work was extremely varied to say the least, but I primarily worked in the clinical guidance team where we were responsible for answering queries and producing guidance for health professionals, ranging from what PPE should be worn to what alcohol content hand sanitiser should have to be most effective. One day that stands out in particular was when we were asked to review both the guidance for face coverings and contact tracing within a few hours before it was due to be announced publicly – only a tiny bit stressful!

“Although sometimes rather hectic and intense, I work with some fantastic people who are all extremely passionate and dedicated in their efforts to defeat COVID-19.”