Question: How did you get into studying new treatments for a rare eye disease as a clinical trial manager through studying psychology? Where did that interest come from as you also work in the mental health sector, do you believe studying both helped you in both lines of work?

Lisa Grünwald answered on 4 Mar 2021:

Hi Kristen, a think a psychology degree is amazing, as it teaches you about a topic – mental health- as well as about methodology – how to do research, test hypotheses, design an experiment. So I started working in mental health services, specifically for people with schizophrenia/psychosis. I loved working there, I really enjoy working with service users and I am passionate about improving the way health services work. I was then funded to a Phd in that area (part time).

As a clinical trial manager I get to do more work on the methodology side of things – I don’t have to be an expert for eye diseases (I obviously get to learn a lot about it!) but the majority of the work is about research processes, thinking how to design a study, how to get participants interested, how to analyse the results at the end. This allows me to work across different studies in different research areas! So even though this is about physical health rather than mental health, a psychology degree can be really helpful and will teach you what you need to know about study processes.

I hope this answers your question – but please feel free to send another if there is anything else you’d like to know!