Find out what careers in medical microbiology and virology are like - join Dr Kamaljit Khalsa and Dr Catherine Houlihan at this free event.

This online event will shine a spotlight on careers in medical microbiology and virology. Our speakers are Consultant Medical Microbiologist, Dr Kamaljit Khalsa and Consultant Virologist, Dr Catherine Houlihan. The session (to be held on Zoom Webinar) aims to give medical students and Foundation Doctors a comprehensive introduction to these two fascinating pathology specialties. Our speakers will cover:

• Their personal journeys into their specialty
• What working as a consultant in their specialty is like day to day
• The contribution that medical microbiology and virology makes to medicine and healthcare. 

The speakers will make lots of time for questions. Join us for this exciting and unique event - book your place for free. 

This event is being run jointly by The Royal College of Pathologists, the Manchester Pathology Society and the Pathology Subcommittee of UCL Medical Society.

 

Meet our speakers

 

Dr Kamaljit Khalsa - Biography

Dr Kamalji Khalsa has been a Consultant Medical Microbiologist at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow since 2019. She holds the position of Training Lead for South Sector, supporting trainees rotating through the department from FY2 level up to Higher Speciality Trainees. Kamaljit also holds the position of Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Glasgow University Medical School and is Public Engagement Coordinator for Scotland affiliated with RCPath and a STEM Ambassador. Dr Khalsa has held a number of events in schools and community centres. Her specialist interests include paediatric microbiology, stem cell laboratory infections, training and education. 

Dr Catherine Houlihan - Biography

Catherine Houlihan is an MRCP and FRCPath qualified infectious disease and virology consultant, jointly appointed as a substantive consultant 50% in clinical virology at UCLH and 50% as a consultant in infection at the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory, UK Health Security Agency. Her expertise is in CNS infections and she runs a general infectious diseases-virology out patient clinic at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases weekly. 
Catherine’s PhD work was in the HPV epidemiology Tanzania and her current research interests are in emerging viral infections, CNS infections, and nosocomial infection including in health care workers.  She teaches study design, epidemiology and tropical medicine at LSHTM and is an honorary assistant professor at UCL.  
Catherine is the UCLH site PI of a clinical trial of influenza antivirals (REMAP-CAP) and was previously site PI for trials of monoclonal antibodies for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 in exposed individuals. She is the PI or co-PI of four ongoing epidemiological studies including; a PHRST (NIHR-funded) project investigating the prevalence of antibodies to viral haemorrhagic fever viruses in four hospitals in Uganda, an HIS-funded study investigating infectiousness of Monkeypox Virus in longitudinal samples from UK patients, a study testing health care workers around the UK for antibodies to Lassa after the recent 2022 outbreak, and a study testing the UKHSA archive of stored samples from patients returning from West Africa to explore missed imported Lassa cases.  
Catherine has worked on VHF outbreak response for the WHO in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and DRC and am an active member of UK-Med, a frontline medical aid charity.