Ferdouse is the Marketing and Community Manager at the Institute of Healthcare Engineering. She is also Co-Chair of Astrea alongside Aparna Murthy.
What is your role and what does it involve?
Iâm currently the Marketing and Community Manager at the Institute of Healthcare Engineering. Recently I had the privilege of becoming the Co-Chair of the Astrea Network, along with my other Co-Chair Aparna Murthy.ÌęÌę
Let me tell you a bit about the Astrea Network, in case youâre not familiar with it. Itâs a space for professional women at MyAV·¶ â our own community â where we can learn from each other and share our experiences. We do this with events and the newsletter which keeps people up to speed. Interested? Join us.Ìę
How long have you been at MyAV·¶ and what was your previous role?
Iâve been at MyAV·¶ for a little while. I joined in August 2018, starting off at the Union as a Digital Marketing Coordinator. I was getting comfortable at the Union, so I thought it was time for a change. I applied for a secondment at the Institute of Healthcare Engineering, joining in 2022 and applying for a permanent posting when it was made available. This year (2023) Iâve also been fortunate enough to Co-Chair the Astrea Network.Ìę
What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?
Iâm proud of being able to lead on projects Iâm passionate about. When I first joined the IHE, I realised healthcare engineering lacked Black academics. When I say lacked, I mean there were none. I want to change that, one small step at a time. I ran the HDRUK Black Internship Programme at the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and plan to run it again next year.ÌęÌę
Tell us about a project you are working on now which is top of your to-do list?
Currently Iâm working on an Engineering wide internship programme that opens doors for those who are disadvantaged â whether itâs because of class (please donât get me started on the class issue in the UK!), race, gender, or disability. Putting a proposal together, budgets etc. is on the top of my to-do list right now.Ìę
What is your favourite album, film and novel?
I think my favourite book is âWhy we sleepâ by Matthew Walker. I read it last year and since then Iâve found a new thirst for reading. Like three or four books a month kind of thirst (audiobooks really help bump the numbers up). Thatâs a big thing for me considering Iâve barely finished a book in all the last ten years.ÌęÌę
What made this book so good for me was that it was practical, full of facts and it made me realise that sleep was important. I mean, we already know sleep is important, but this book really hammered it in for me â how I need sleep to process memories and how Iâm shortening my lifespan and increasing my risk of dementia because I think I can go to sleep at 2am and wake up at 8 as a fully functional human (I canât!).ÌęÌę
It's also got a review by Bill Gates on Goodreads, and Iâve never seen that happen before so if that isnât a stamp of how good it is, I donât know what is.Ìę
What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?
Me?ÌęÌę
I think Iâm funny, sometimes.Ìę
What advice would you give your younger self?
That you can do it. I always used to worry about asking for help â will they think I canât do my job properly; will they judge me for being stupid? But by not asking for help, Iâd pour hours over tasks that should not have taken much time. Ask for help and if you donât feel like you canât, is that really the place for you?Ìę
What would it surprise people to know about you?
Iâm the host of a podcast? Apparently, I have âa lovely podcast voiceâ but you havenât heard me cackle because I also, surprisingly, do that too.ÌęÌę
The podcast is called âHealth in a Handbasketâ, and for 30 minutes every week I cover what healthcare engineering is because what the heck is that? I, for one, didnât really know before I started this job and thatâs pretty much the premise of the podcast â me, a layperson, asking all our amazing researchers what theyâre working on and how theyâre changing the world. This is a small plug for the podcast by the way â donât let my effort go in vain, give the first episode a listen.Ìę
What is your favourite place?
On top of a mountain â I think that would be my favourite place. On the way up itâs hard, you feel like youâre dying, and your legs are on fire but when you get to the top, itâs such an amazing feeling. Youâre on top of the world, youâve climbed for hours, and you look down, legs like jelly, and just marvel at how your body has just done this - climbed a mountain! If itâs not cloudy, the views are breathtaking too.Ìę
Who would you most like to have a conversation with at an Astrea Happy to Chat bench and why?Ìę
Probably my grandmas. Theyâve both passed away now but it would be nice to sit with them and hear their stories. Hear about tales from Bangladesh - what made them happy and what made them sad, what advice they would give me â just their stories. Both women passed away in their 80âs so with such full lives Iâm sure they would have had a lot to say.Ìę
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