Clinic scholarships helping to train neuroscience researchers across the world
Nov 2019: Dr Jamil Said received an Anne Rowling Clinic Regenerative Neurology Scholarship to help him realise his ambitions to advance neuroscience research in Africa.
Dr Jamil Said, a doctor from Kenya, received an Anne Rowling Clinic scholarship last year. The scholarships fund modules on the University of Edinburgh online distance learning MSc programme Stem Cells and Translational Neurology.
The programme combines cutting-edge neuroscience focused on stem cells and neurodegenerative disease with the real-life clinical and patient/carer perspectives.
Dr Said writes "I am a physician intern and clinician-scientist based at the Moi University School of Medicine and its affiliated teaching hospital. Perched on the plateaus of Eldoret, a town in Western Kenya famed for its marathon champions, our institution serves as the second largest referral hospital in Kenya, with a catchment of 25 million people.
From an early stage of my career the glaring lack of capacity for care of neurological disorders and neuroscience research became quite apparent. I want to build a successful neuroscience research platform leveraged on the prior success of the HIV research infrastructure. I want to include sub-Saharan African black populations in ground-breaking research on disease mechanisms, ensuring sub-Saharan African representation in the development of neuroscience treatments.
The learning curve on the MSc programme was steep, the experience highly rewarding. I was introduced to advanced concepts of stem cell and neuroscience research and gained knowledge on the emerging and current trends in research for neurodegenerative diseases. I believe the course will pave the way for more focused research while at the same time creating a platform for global interaction with like minded individuals. I am certain that by the end I will have acquired sufficient knowledge and skills to help realise my long term career aspirations."
Related links
Stem cells and Translational Neurology online distance learning programme