Q&A with Saieesha Yogesan

Q&A WITH SAIEESHA YOGESAN

Year 10 student Saieesha Yogesan got the chance to meet and work alongside Nobel Prize winner and gastroenterologist Professor Barry Marshall on her work experience placement at the Barry Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training at UWA.

Why did you pursue Work Experience at the Barry Marshall Centre?

My father is a research scientist who works in the field of ophthalmology. He is my idol, and I am inspired by his work. He helped to organise Work Experience as he works with Barry Marshall, who is a gastroenterologist and Nobel Prize laureate.

What did you learn from Professor Marshall?

I learnt lots about Helicobacter Pylori, as expected, and about his field of research. I followed Professor Marshall and my supervisor, Dr Alfred Tay, to meetings where I heard all about the experiments they had done with different organisms and the data they had collected.

What was your favourite experience of the week?

I was asked to write an article on Helicobacter Pylori, the bacteria which Professor Marshall won a Nobel Prize for in 2005, for his achievement to prove that H.pylori infections caused peptic ulcers. Professor Marshall reviewed my article and gave constructive feedback. I later learned that my article would be published in the Medical Journal.

Professor Marshall was very helpful and humble, considering all he had achieved. He also gave me a signed copy of his book, How to win the Nobel Prize, which was great because I’d love to win it one day!

Has this experience inspired you to work in the Medical field?

Most definitely, I would love to work in research and work towards helping people. I’m not sure exactly where yet, but most probably in ophthalmology or neurology.