Katie Whytock, Postdoc
Where you are from: Scunthorpe, UK 
PhD University: Liverpool John Moores University
PhD topic area: Muscle Metabolism and Health
Current job title and company: Post-Doctoral Research Scientist, AdventHealth
Current location: Orlando, US.
How would you describe to your granny/granddad what you do for work?
I research the different cells in your body and how they help or hinder your health.
What does a typical day/week look like for you?
I tend to work in bursts that have different foci. For example, I may spend a few weeks at the lab bench generating data, a few months analysing the data, a few months writing manuscripts and grants. This is typically combined with plenty of meetings with colleagues to discuss troubleshooting, collaborations and conceptualisation of data.
What’s the best thing about your job?
Discovering something new in a dataset and trying to figure out what it means!
What hard skills does someone need for your job?
Wet lab skills, R programming and bioinformatics analysis, project management and academic writing.
What soft skills does someone need for your job?
Science is full of wonderful personalities. I think being able to interact with different people from different walks of life can be hugely beneficial when working as part of an interdisciplinary team.
In 10 years' time, what job/position do you see yourself in?
As an independent funded investigator researching progression and alleviation of skeletal muscle insulin resistance using a translational bedside-to-bench-to-bioinformatic approach
What advice would you give to someone starting out in your industry?
I would say learn how to be patient. Science can be slow, stressful, and challenging, but the rewards can be worthwhile to both you and the public. Pursue something you enjoy and take care of yourself while you do it!
Do you think there is a difference between doing a post-doc at AdventHealth in comparison to traditional post-docs positions in US universities?
I would say there are a lot of similarities in terms of completely mainly NIH (government) funded research. I would say the main difference is that we are not an educational establishment so there are no formal teaching obligations which also means I cannot unfortunately formally supervise PhD students. However, we do accommodate plenty of Masters/PhD interns from European countries looking to expand their skillset and research in collaboration with their respective Universities.
What advice would you give to someone coming to the end of their PhD?
Keep going and make sure to celebrate when you’ve finished.
How can people contact you?
