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Healthcare Science Week - Meet our Scientists

It’s Healthcare Science Week, and we’re profiling some of the many valuable but ‘out of sight’ roles our healthcare scientists perform. Meet Hamda Suleiman, a Clinical Scientist in Audiology.

Meet Hamda Suleiman, a Clinical Scientist in Audiology, who tests and manages hearing and balance function and their associated disorders in both children and adult patients.

On a daily basis I see patients to test their hearing and to fit hearing aids. The work I do in the vestibular (balance) assessment clinic involves analysing eye movements to get information about how the vestibular organs are working. This can help to diagnose balance disorders.

Hearing and balance are two important senses that we rely on for our daily lives. As audiologists we have important roles in diagnosis and interpreting test results. We also play important roles in rehabilitating patients with hearing and balance problems.

In research, we contribute to researching new techniques and developing our services to keep the NHS at the cutting edge of medicine. I think a lot of people don’t realise that there are over 50 different scientific roles within the healthcare science and healthcare scientists are involved in 80% of all clinical decisions affecting the patient journey in the NHS.

I am currently doing my final year research project on the relevance of genetics in audiology. We know over half of early-onset permanent hearing losses have genetic aetiology. Genetic evaluations on patients with hearing losses have the scope to provide personalised predictive information about their hearing loss including progression and the chances of inheritance. We are hopeful that the insights gained in this study will serve as an initial finding to highlight the importance of genetics in audiology clinical practice.

I am currently in my third and final year of my training, I am hoping to finish my training in the next few months and register as a clinical scientist in audiology. I will continue working in the NHS within this dynamic field that I have chosen.

If you are looking for opportunities within healthcare science, keep an open mind to the different specialisms and sub-specialisms in healthcare science. There are over 50 different scientific roles in the NHS, so don’t be afraid to speak to those who are already in the field you are interested in or to as for a shadowing experience!