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A British military surgical trainee will attend the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) to pursue his doctoral degree starting this winter semester. Maj. (Dr.) Simon Tallowin of the Royal Army Medical Corps will begin classes at USU as part of the university’s United Kingdom Educational Exchange Experience.
Tallowin is the most recent member of the British military to complete a Ph.D. at USU, following Lt. Cmdr. (Dr.) Philip Spreadborough, who graduated in 2019. Tallowin will study molecular and cell biology and work principally with the university’s Surgical Critical Care Initiative.
“I was interested in coming to USU having heard about the good experiences of my predecessor,” says Tallowin. “The investment in military research is impressive in the U.S., and the opportunity to complete a Ph.D. in such a well-established research environment, alongside world-leading academic staff was too good to pass up.”
Tallowin adds that living in the Washington, DC, area is also a wonderful opportunity for some new cultural experiences and to see what life is like in the U.S.
Dr. Thomas Davis, professor and vice chair of Research in the USU Department of Surgery, says the exchange program with the U.K. began with the mission of sharing academic expertise between the two countries. The original memorandum of understanding was developed in 1985 between the Department of Defense, through USU, and the Royal Army Medical College to bring Ph.D. students from the British Army Medical Services to the university.
“They provide somebody who has the interest and the desire to do research and it’s sort of a win-win,” says Davis. “They get the training, they get the exposure to advanced research and the medical application, the translational component that research offers — and on the flip side we get an individual that is highly motivated, experienced on the clinical side.”
Davis says Tallowin will be involved in an accelerated program lasting three years as opposed to the more traditional four or five.
“They’re very motivated, the learning curve is very short,” Davis says. “This isn’t something that your typical average MD clinician is going to be able to handle. This is a very accelerated program. They’re capable, they’re used to working hard, they’re used to putting in long hours and long days and doing whatever is required to get the job done.”
For his part, Tallowin says the process to transition to USU as a student has been a smooth one.
“Everyone I’ve met has been extremely warm and welcoming, and enthusiastic about our continued partnership,” Tallowin says. “Given the COVID-19 pandemic, all of our meetings have been online and I’ve not had the opportunity to visit, so I’m hugely excited about getting to USU and finally meeting colleagues who have helped develop this opportunity face-to-face, and get started.”
Once at the university, Tallowin says he plans to help further develop some of the predictive models used to understand outcomes following a critical injury.
“I’m interested in helping to further map the immune dysregulation that can occur after injury and is
associated with adverse outcomes,” says Tallowin. “Specifically, we aim to investigate differences in gene expression between individuals in the immediate aftermath of trauma, integrate this with existing datasets in order to help further understand why some people recover well without significant complications, whilst others become critically unwell and succumb to their injuries.”
Tallowin is a General Surgical Registrar — or the U.K. equivalent of a postgraduate resident in his 10th year. He first joined the British Army for a brief stint as an engineering officer in 2005, then re-enlisted while at the University of Nottingham Medical School in 2008. He graduated in 2012, having extended to complete additional degrees in medical science and health policy.
After graduation, he completed his internship at the U.K.’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, before commencing three years of regimental duty as a medical officer within the 16 Air Assault Brigade, the U.K.’s rapid reaction force.
During this time, he qualified as a military parachutist and supported elements of The Parachute Regiment and bomb disposal units on deployments to Kenya, Oman, and Afghanistan, where he also worked closely alongside U.S. allies in Kabul. Tallowin started his postgraduate surgical training in 2017 and is currently halfway through higher surgical training and developing an interest in emergency general surgery and trauma surgery.
“I’m hoping the connections and knowledge I gain during my time here will allow me to continue to contribute to military surgical research on my return to the U.K., and lead some further collaborative research between the U.K. and U.S.,” says Tallowin.
Once he graduates from USU, Tallowin says he plans to return to the U.K. to continue his surgical training but hopes to continue to collaborate with the university on research projects of relevance to military surgery.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity and I feel extremely humbled to have been selected to come to USU.”
| Date Taken: | 12.08.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.08.2021 08:49 |
| Story ID: | 410703 |
| Location: | BETHESDA, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 90 |
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This work, USU-Royal Army Medical College Exchange Program Offers Collaboration for Military Medical Research, by Ian Neligh, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
