MSc All Wrapped Up With a Bow

On August 22 was a celebration as this was the day I handed in my dissertation. This was the last requirement for the MSc in Human Cognitive Neuropsychology. Completing a Master's dissertation in the matter of a few months was quite a challenge and one normally taking a year or more in Canada. It was quite challenging however I did learn a lot in this process. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll graduate with distinction as I was on track for this with the grades for my coursework.

My dissertation was on cognitive functioning of patients with Motor Neurone Disease -(which you may better know as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). It is a neurodegenerative disease leading to significant physical disability and ultimately death. It was quite emotional working with patients who have a limited life expectancy. The patients ranged in age from early 30s to early 80s. They had very interesting life stories and quite a positive outlook on life for such a grim diagnosis. The families of the patients were inspiring as well as they had taken on the primary care of their loved ones and preparing themselves for the future. If you're interested a great book and easy read on one patient's experience of ALS is Rowing Without Oars by Ulla-Cairn Lindquist. She was a journalist who contracted the disease when she was quite young. She faithfully documented her experiences and gave insight on how the disease affected herself and her family as the disease progressed through to her death. It is quick and easy read, but quite a tear-jerker so be prepared.

As far as cognitive aspects of ALS I studied verbal fluency. A test of executive function that is sometimes found to be compromised in this patient group. I had a very small patient group and unfortunately my results did not clearly support or refute my hypotheses. I found a wide range of cognitive functioning which demonstrated the diversity of cognitive functioning in this patient group. Despite my results being inconclusive I had the opportunity to be fully involved in all aspects of the research and learned so much about designing studies, collecting and analyzing data and writing up results.

After this experience I feel very prepared for and excited about my PhD research at St. Andrews. As you may know I will be studying cognitive functioning in patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus. One interesting aspect is that I get to incorporate fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) into the study to determine if there are changes in brain activity that can be detected in this patient group. The scholarship I received is focused on research using various brain imaging techniques.

I start my programme at St. Andrews at the end of September. Right now I'm having a bit of a break and in the next few weeks will take in some conference workshops in neuropsychology and neuroscience mainly held at the University of Edinburgh. With a few movies, shows, and family weekend getaways thrown in between!