AFP Interview Questions and Answers (Solved)

AFP Interview Questions and Answers (Solved) Question:-What experience of research have you had? {{Ans- For the past 3 years, I have been heavily involved in research at the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics. My work has centred on discovering and analysing genomic risk factors for neuropsychiatric pathologies such as schizophrenia and autism. In particular, the research project I am most proud of, must be my analysis of the World's largest cohort of 1q21.1 CNV carriers. Essentially these are a risk factor for numerous psychopathologies. I am most of this particular work due to the experience and skills I have gained along the way. It started out a very small preliminary phenotypic analysis of carriers recruited in Cardiff as an SSC project in third year. However, my supervisor was so impressed by my work that he allowed me to continue this as an intercalated BSc and later as a paid research assistant in the centre. Personally, I conducted face to face neuropsychiatric assessments on the carriers and I presented findings to international collaborators in Canada and France, enabling us to pool our data to add to the cohort. This created the worlds largest cohort and enabled me to conduct a high level of statistical analysis on the cohort in the programme R. The results showed that carriers of duplication in particular were at a massively increased risk of mood and anxiety disorders. Implications:This research enabled me to win the Richard Arnold Prize at Cardiff University for the best project in the neurosciences and furthermore enabled me to be selected for a prestigious pathfinder fellowship from the royal college of psychiatrists after a highly competitive interview and application process, i will have funding to continue this work in larger datasets in Toronto next spring. My reflections on the process would be ... This project, taking a research idea from conception to eventual presentation afforded me valuable experience of the rigours of academic work in medicine and the realistic expectations necessary in this field. I hope to flourish on the academic foundation programme and seek opportunities for further collaboration and development of my skills and experience. I am also currently involved in another study in which myself and others are running the first PheWAS in Cardiff on a known genomic risk facto for neuropsychiatric disease. Question:-Give an example where you have worked as part of a team. {{Ans- I would say that teamwork is one of the most pervasive skills I have demonstrated throughout my life thus far, whether that is in playing rugby internationally, or founding a charity to tackle suicide in students, however the example that comes to mind would be my experience as co-president a of CSPS. S/T: As co-president I took a leading role in a successfully winning a bid to host the National Student Psychiatry Conference in Wales. Key to this was working in a positive collaboration with our neighbouring psych soc in Swansea. I chaired meetings of the organising committee, listening to my peers and working to overcome differences of opinion and reconcile the team's aspirations with practical opportunities. A: I developed skills in transformational leadership, empowering other team members to develop their own abilities through co-ordinating sub-committees for different sections of the conference. I also recognised the value of trusting others when delegating work. As a senior member of the organising committee I calmly settled conflicts within the team and made sure we remained on task and within deadlines.R: These experiences highlighted the need to balance clinical commitments with additional project work. I developed my time management skills and awareness of my own limitations, namely seeking appropriate help from previous organisers when necessary. I also recognised the need for a positive attitude in the face of difficulty and of being flexible in approach. These are, in my opinion, pre-requisite skills for the academic foundation programme. Question:-What are your future career aspirations? {{Ans- It is my fundamental career aspiration to become a leading clinician-scientist in the field of academic psychiatry or neuropsychiatry. C: - Clinically I would love to be working in an urban area with a diverse patient base and workforce in the field of neuropsychiatry, - which I believe during the course of my life will blur many of the boundaries between psychiatry and neurology and provide pathology specific treatments to patients that need it most. - Personally I would love to be part of SLaMs team of talented mental health professionals offering a wide range of services to patients who need it most. A: - I would also want to be conducting my own academic research as part of a successful team, with the aim of eventually becoming a professor. - Of course everything is in the pipeline for now, it is a great ambition of mine that by the time that I am at this stage the first clinical biomarkers for psychiatric diseases will be coming into play for patients, and finally we can treat psychiatric patients in the targeted manner they deserve. I would have hoped to have contributed to this watershed moment in some way. M: I am passionate about education and leadership, and thus will also hopefully have had the chance to get involved with the audit process to ensure continual development of individuals and systems for NHS patients, alongside teaching ambitious students, interested in psychiatry. I have already begun collaboration with an AFP doctor in Manchester who is heading the PsychStart programme to provide personal tutors to students interested in psychiatry.P: Lastly, I am incredibly passionate about a suicide awareness charity for young people I have just set up in memory of my best friend and medical student Ted. It is my aspiration that there will be Ted's Friends in place in numerous universities and colleges across the country in order to help as conduits to students bridging the huge life change that is moving away to Uni.