Profile
Jennifer Deane
My CV
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Education:
Holy Family Primary School, Blackpool
Greenland’s High School, Blackpool
Blackpool 6th Form College, Blackpool
The Bridge Theatre Training Company Drama School, London
London Metropolitan University, London
University College London (UCL), London
Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne
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Qualifications:
- GCSE’s – Art and Design (A*), Design and Technology (A), Drama (B), French (C), History (B), Science double Award (BB), Maths (B), English (A), English Literature (B)
- A Levels – Art- Painting (E), Theatre Studies (E), English Literature (E)
- Diploma – Acting (Pass)
- Undergraduate Degree – Psychology BSc (2.1)
- Masters – Health Psychology (Pass with Merit)
- NCST Smoking Cessation Practitioner – Pass
I think its important to study lots of different topics and whilst I may not use all of these everyday I have gained something from all of them. My drama and theatre studies courses have helped me feel confident talking to lots of people and standing up to do talks about my work. They have also helped me to make my talks interesting. English and English literature are important as I have to write about what I do and both of those taught me about how to write and how important stories are. Maths is in everything we do and even though I found it hard I use it all the time so I am glad I stuck with it.
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Work History:
Jobs whilst I was at School and 6th Form
- Empire HotelĀ – Waitress and chambermaid
- Sealife Centre – Shaky the Shark and worked in the gift shop
- Passage del Terror – Scary lady!
- Fatty Arbuckles – Waitress
- Blackpool Grand Theatre – Box Office and worked in the education department going into schools to do drama workshops
- Uncle Toms Cabin – Barmaid
Jobs whilst I was at Drama School
- Victoria Palace Theatre Group- Box Office
Acting Jobs
- Pontins Advert
- Theatre Show – The Little Mermaid
- Theatre TourĀ – Digging the Dirt
- Theatre Tour – Claire’s Clothes (2 tours)
The rest…..
- Drama Teacher – Primary and Secondary Schools
- London Bridge Hospital – Outpatient Supervisor
- Pure Sports Medicine – Practice Manager
- Saneline – phone line support worker (Volunteer)
- City University, London – Research Assistant
- Queen Mary University – Research Assistant and Communication Skills Tutor
- Newcastle University – Research Assistant, Psychology Teaching Assistant, Public Health Teaching Assistant
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Current Job:
I have 3 parts to my job at the moment
- My PhD – I am just finishing my PhD which is a research project on Head and Neck Cancer and how people get help and feel about their diagnosis
- Rurally Study – This is a part time job where we are looking at what its like living in a rural area and going to see your GP. What is hard about it and what helps
- Endoprem/Cytosponge- I am talking to patients about a new way of testing for cancer. The patient has to swallow a tablet on a piece of string and then drink some water, this turns it into a little brush, they then pull the brush up with the string and it takes a scraping of cells to test for cancer. It doesn’t hurt but is a bit strange so I am chatting about what its like and if they would have it again if they needed too.
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About Me:
I am a food loving zombie obsessed cancer researcher. I live with my husband, two daughters and an old hairy sausage dog called Peanut. I live by the coast and love the sea.
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I live on the coast in Whitley Bay, which is a town just outside Newcastle. I live with my husband James and my two kids, Ava who is 9 and Clara who is 4. We have a slightly crazy wire haired sausage dog who doesn’t like other dogs but loves humans and sausages (which we’ve always thought was odd as she’s a sausage dog!). I love the coast and walk along it everyday, even in the rain, we have a kayak and I’m attempting to use it in the sea, which I’m ok with so long as there are no waves!
I love movies, especially zombie and apocalypse movies, and have my own zombie apocalypse plan ready in case I need it! My husband and I are always on the look out for the perfect burger so we are always checking out new burger places and I love to bake! To make up for that I am a big fan of Les Mills Body combat. -
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I’ve always been fascinated with why we act in certain ways. My younger sister was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 2 and I was always interested in how this made her feel, not just the diabetes symptoms, but how it sometimes made her feel sad or why she would eat food she shouldn’t even though she knew it would make her feel ill later. She also used to talk to me about how she felt some of the doctors at her clinic appointments just didn’t seem to listen to her. So I look at these areas, although my focus isn’t on Diabetes now it is on Cancer.
I think of myself as a health psychology researcher and I mainly do something called qualitative research which basically means I talk to people, well I try and do less talking and more listening. One of the projects I am working on is finding out what it is like getting diagnosed with a cancer in the head and neck area. I would normally go to peoples houses, or meet them in coffee shops or at the university (now most of my interviews are done on the phone or on a video call – still good but less cake involved!). I would then ask them to tell me about what symptoms they had and who they asked for help and why did they pick that person? Then I would ask who told them they had cancer and what that was like. Did they understand everything they were told and did they get all the help they wanted and needed. I also spoke to the doctors; the GP’s and the cancer surgeons about what it was like doing their job, what was hard about it and how they felt telling patients they had cancer. As people talk I may think of something else I want to know so would ask them to tell me more about something interesting.
I record all the interviews so after the interviews I get someone to type up everything they have said and then I go through it all looking at the way people spoke and seeing if more than one person said something similar. Or looking to see if there is something specific that people found really helpful or really difficult. This part normally involves a lot of highlighters, coloured pens and sticky notes – I love a coloured pen! I then would make groups of all the different comments from the people who were interviewed and see if there were any themes coming out – so one of the themes was Trust – this was because lots of people spoke about how they really trusted the cancer surgeons and the cancer surgeons spoke about how important it was that patients trusted them.
I can then use this information to see where we need to make changes or what would help patients. From this study lots of people spoke about how they didn’t know that some of the problems they were having were serious and that they needed to go to the doctor. So I can now use that to think of a way to let people know that they need to go to the doctor if they have some of these symptoms. People also spoke about how scary they felt dentists were so I am looking at ways we can make going to the dentist seem less scary so people go more often and get help quicker.
For some of my work I work on my own but that is mainly because I am still a student. I also work part time on two other research projects and these are working in a group. I love this part more as its great to be able to get together and talk about what we are doing. We share the tasks out so that one person isn’t doing everything.
Normally at the start of a new project we will do a lot of reading, looking at what other people have said about what we are interested in. We then decide how we are going to do the research. Are we going to talk to people, send out questionnaires, or do both. Sometimes we may just go and sit in a clinic and watch what is happening and make notes. We then have to put all of our plans together and ask a group of people called an Ethics board to look at them. They make sure we aren’t doing any research that might hurt someone or make people very upset. If they say it is all ok then we start work.
In the same way as I mentioned earlier we would do interviews one to one or sometimes in groups then get the interviews typed up and describe the themes in them. The next bit is to let other people know what we have found and we can do this in lots of different ways. We often go to conferences which is an event where lots of people interested in the same topic meet and chat about the research they have done. For this we sometimes design posters, or do talks about what we have done. We also write articles for science journals, sometimes for magazines or newspapers, we may have a podcast, or go to talk to people in different places. I also write a leaflet that I give to everybody who I interviewed which tells them all the things I found in the research.
Normally we don’t get a simple answer or what we find is just another little piece of a puzzle so we then look at what else we need to find out now we know this little bit of information. So we then decide what we would like to do next and start to put a plan together and start looking for someone who will give us some money to do the next bit. I normally ask charities like Cancer Research if they would give us money for our next project. Then it starts all over again….
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My Typical Day:
My days are very different, although at the moment I spend all my time at my computer. I normally travel around a lot, interviewing people or going to meetings about the research. I normally am based at the university but am working from home at the moment.
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No two days are the same for me, but I do always wake up early as my dog needs a wee!
I normally work in an office at the university, its a shared office with about 15 of us. Some are in a team with me and others are working in different areas.Turning on my computer is the most important bit and I can see if I am due to interview anyone, if I am I need to make sure my dictaphone (way of recording people) is charged and I have my list of questions ready. I sometimes have meeting to chat about the work I have been doing and I normally have some writing to do. Before COVID I would often be in lots of different places, if I was interviewing I could be driving all over the UK meeting people in their houses or somewhere they would like to meet to chat.
At the moment most of what I do is at a computer, but in normal times I am often on the move. If I was going to a conference then I would need to make sure my poster was printed and my talk was ready and then this might be staying in the UK or flying to another country. This is one of my favourite parts as I get to see a new country and meet up with friends who do the same work I do.
I often have meetings and have to get my work ready for them, telling people what I have done and found out so far. Or we may all chat about something if we aren’t sure what we have found. You are constantly learning something new so there are often training courses to go on, for a new type of research or a new computer program.
I sometimes teach other students, this can de people training to be doctors or dentists or people studying psychology. I might be talking to them about my research or about different ways of doing research. I have also taught people training to be doctors about talking to patients. It sounds easy but there are different ways you can do this to make sure patients understand what is happening to them and that the doctor is listening to their patient too. I love teaching as I get to meet lots of new people.
At the end of the day I logout and head home to see my children and walk Peanut!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would like to start a YouTube channel and Podcast. I want to use the money for training and equipment. The main aim is to show people that there are different types of cancer research and to help people understand that there are lots more opportunities in research than you might think.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Food obsessed, chatty cancer researcher
What did you want to be after you left school?
An Actress - and I was for a little while
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Only once! - but I found school hard sometimes, especially 6th form when I just wanted to leave and be a famous actress!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
I have terrible taste in music and tend to listen to old 90's dance music to remember being young!
What's your favourite food?
A really good burger, homemade cake and fish and chips at the beach
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To win the lottery, be able to travel the world, and to be able to fly!
Tell us a joke.
Knock Knock....(Who's there)....Europe...(Europe Who?)....No you're a poo
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