Profile
Andy Guise
My CV
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Education:
My local school in Tadcaster. Uni of Sheffield for my first degree, then the School of Oriental and African Studies in London for a masters in development studies. My PhD was at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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Qualifications:
BSc, MSc, PhD
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Work History:
I worked for a charity focused on HIV for a little while, and also for small bits in the UK Government in the Department for International Development. Mainly though I have done research at Universities in London – I am now at King’s College London – and also worked at University of California San Diego.
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Current Job:
Lecturer in Social Science and Health
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About Me:
social scientist working on inequalities
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I live in London right now, although I was born and grew up near York. I am oddly proud of being from the north (it will come up in most conversations), but am now also a proud Londoner. I have moved around the UK and the world doing my work (I have so far been to over 40 countries – favourites: Senegal, the USA, Italy). My partner is half-German, half-American (also a bit Slovak, maybe a little Irish too). I am trying, and struggling, to learn German. My single biggest claim to fame is that Harry Potter/Daniel Radcliffe once did a magic trick for me (a card trick – my friend wasn’t impressed).
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I’m a social scientist – I am interested in how people get along together, in society (or not). And how the ‘structures’ in our society (things like racism, sexism, poverty) influence our health. I teach medical students and public health students about the need to consider these social processes when they work with people; as an example of this – things like asthma can be linked to bad housing and pollution, if we just give people an inhaler we are only helping a bit, we need to also address the bigger causes.
My research right now is around experiences of homeless and ill-health. You’ll probably have seen in the news that homelessness is on the rise in the UK. It is a big issue. And it is really bad for your health. The average age of death for a woman sleeping rough in the UK is 43, and for a man it is 47 (they are not mistakes, they are really that low). I try and help think about what health services we can provide to respond to that, and also to think about the causes of homelessness, and how we as a society respond to these challenges.
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My Typical Day:
A lecture with medical students, then some study of data collected with people out on the streets
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Difficult to say there is a typical day. But a day can include things like teaching medical students – whether a lecture, or running a seminar – and preparing for these. A lot of my time is spent on research. So I am either out in London interviewing people at places like Groundswell, a charity I work with, or I am in my office working through the data I have collected. A big part of my job is writing reports and papers, for other scientists, for government, for people running health services, so I will likely be doing a bit of that too. And reading.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
make a comic
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
serious social scientist
What did you want to be after you left school?
I still don't know.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Nah, not really. The odd stupid thing, but rarely trouble. Boring I know.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Last gig I went to was iron and wine, maybe him? I follow the radio and trust them to play me the good stuff.
What's your favourite food?
Pizza.
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1 live a long time (to see the world get a bit better), 2 be happy, with 3 my girlfriend, family and a pet dog on a small farm.
Tell us a joke.
What is brown and sticky? A stick.
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