SHSS Alumnae Link - Megan Vaughan
Welcome to SHSS Alumnae Link!
This is where we connect with past pupils and find out what they’re up to now.
This week we linked with Megan Vaughan who graduated in 2014.
Name and position:
Megan Vaughan, PhD student and Research Fellow.
Lives:
Cambridge, UK.
Best memory of Sacred Heart:
Whenever I think about school/SHSS, I just think of sitting with my friends in the Ref chatting and laughing. It was so great being able to see my friends every day!
What were your favourite classes?
I enjoyed all my subjects in senior cycle, but I think physics, biology and maths were my favourite classes.
Tell us about your career progression to date:
I did my undergrad in Optometry in the UK (graduated in 2017). I then went on to work as an Optometrist in an independent opticians in Norfolk, where I did my pre-registration year and exams to qualify clinically.
I realised I missed academia and so I returned to education to do a PhD (2018). My PhD is in developing and testing new optometric devices for detecting Glaucoma - alternatives to the ‘puff of air test’ you would get in an Opticians. I am finishing up the writing stage and hope to submit this summer.
I recently (in fact, just this month) have started a new job in UCL as a Research Fellow. Here I am involved in running a research project on Diabetes and how this affects the eyes. In particular, how colour vision and the optics of the eye change with this disease.
If you weren’t in the job you have, what would you be doing?
I would probably still work as an Optometrist in practice, saying 1 or 2, 1 or 2…
Advice you would give your teenage self:
Stop worrying.
Favourite quote or motto?
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.
What is your hidden talent?
I am rated as the 54th best Tiddlywinker in the world!
Huge thanks to Megan for taking the time to answer our questions.
See you soon for the next instalment of SHSS Alumnae Link.
