Carola Daniel

What is your current role at Easter Bush campus and what does a typical day look like? (obligatory question)

My official title is “Research Fellow for Large Animal Imaging”. Behind this title three different roles are hiding:

I am involved in research happening at Dryden and at the new Large Animal Research and Imaging Facility (LARIF). As soon as imaging is part of a project, I am involved, either helping myself or liaising with colleagues at Edinburgh Imaging or elsewhere to find the best solution for the project. My days consist of a mix of lots of emails, research and networking, imaging and more emails.

I am also a resident of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging (ECVDI) training to become a specialist in veterinary diagnostic imaging. I am in my first year in an alternative track residency, which we designed locally the R(D)SVS. I have on-clinics and off-clinics times during my residency, allowing me to combine my research and teaching commitments with my clinical work.

As third part of my job I am a lecturer for anatomy, teaching first and second year vet students anatomy and a basic introduction into imaging. I spend my time between the office, where I am preparing lectures and prepare and mark exams etc., the lecture theatre and the dissection room, where we are having our practical courses.

The last bit of time I invest in studying towards an MSc in imaging with Edinburgh Imaging.

How did you get to where you are today? (obligatory question)

My career path is straightforward in some ways and a bit unforeseen in others.

The reason I went to vet school was my passion for horses and riding and working with horses was always my goal. I equally always saw myself working as a specialist in a university hospital, since I have always enjoyed teaching. During an externship in my final year I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in equine surgery and was working towards a surgical residency in the future. After my graduation I applied for equine internships – and did not get any. I decided to take a job in mixed practice, which I did not enjoy very much for various reasons. Unhappy with my job I applied for a position in an equine hospital and got a job as junior clinician. Still wanting to work towards a residency I re-applied for and was accepted into the equine internship programme at the vet school in Vienna. Fast forward a year and I had completed my internship and was now applying for residencies, however not very successfully. But since I always knew that I wanted to stay at a university and I also applied for interesting PhD projects and got offered a position here in Edinburgh for a PhD at the vet school/ Roslin institute. During my PhD I started demonstrating in anatomy practicals and always tried to keep a connection to the clinical side of things. My interest shifted away from surgery towards imaging and I learnt that I am enjoying research, too. When I heard of the role as research fellow in imaging, I was very excited about the opportunities the position brought and applied. Luckily I got the job, and here I am.

How did you land your current role? (obligatory question)

I believe that my PhD in Clinical Veterinary Sciences, my experience with teaching and my background in large animal work were considered strong points in my application.

 Was there a time you messed up and felt like you’d failed? How did you bounce back? 

I mentioned above that “my interest shifted away from surgery towards imaging”. However, it was not as simple as this may sound. I did enjoy my internship very much. I loved being part of that closely-knit community you can find in most hospitals. I loved my “equine bubble”, was very driven, mainly had vet friends and not really much time for hobbies anyway. Not getting into a residency programme was a set-back, but since a PhD had always been part of my “masterplan”, I accepted that. However, starting the PhD and transitioning into the PhD life was anything but easy. There was on the one side the lab work, which I was not used to, but that was a challenge and I felt I could tackle. Much harder was the change in my “private” life. Suddenly I wasn’t part of that “bubble” anymore. While everyone was very nice and welcoming, I just was not a full member of this community any longer; I felt lonely.  I sometimes felt that my PhD was too scientific for the clinicians, and too clinical for the researchers. Over time I build a new life, outside the “bubble”- and I changed. I picked up hobbies and understood that my interests were much broader than I first thought. I started realising that equine surgery might no longer be for me, but it was incredibly difficult to admit to that. I wanted this so much, for so long. Giving up that dream felt like failure. It also meant that I needed to come up with a new plan for the future. I felt lost. Despite all this I started half-heartedly applying to surgical residencies, getting a few interviews, but it never felt right (needless to say, I did not get a residency). The last year of my PhD was not easy and involved a lot of soul searching and (over)thinking.

I assume I bounced back due to a mix of better work-life balance, personal career drive, the newly found (or hard worked for!) ability to open my mind to alternative ways, personal development, a good portion of resilience and stubbornness and simply time. I had developed an interest in imaging during my PhD, partly spiked by my project, partly by other project my supervisor worked on. So when my current job came up I applied, ready to leave the dream of a residency behind and being ok with this. When eventually the opportunity came up to combine my work in research and teaching with an alternative track residency I felt like I had won the jackpot! Juggling all of these responsibilities is not easy, but I am enjoying it and I love what I am doing.

Tell me about a recent career setback. How did you recover?

See above. Generally speaking perseverance, resilience and some stubbornness might be helpful character traits; combined with humour and the ability to take life and yourself not too seriously. Easier said than done. Having a life away from work also helped me to balance things and re-charge my energy. Following my dreams and working hard towards them still plays a pivotal role in my career, but allowing myself to stop, re-asses and, if necessary, adjust from time to time made me happier than rigidly sticking with very specific goals I set years ago.

Think back to five years ago. Did you envision your career as it is today?

Yes and no. I always saw myself as a specialist (in training at this stage) and working at a university. I also always wanted to do a PhD. But I did not envisage that I would enjoy the strong research component of my role and would work in a “hybrid” type job. I also changed my focus from surgery to imaging, as explained above. Overall I would say that I am roughly where I wanted to be five years ago.

Which career skills were the most difficult to develop?

Networking is a skill that does not come easy to me and I need to constantly work on it and step out of my comfort zone to achieve my goals.