Her Discussions by Dr Faye - Leaving EVERYTHING behind, to follow her dreams

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Dr Sarah is leaving everything behind to travel to Antarctica. She will spend a year researching how the human body reacts to Mars-like conditions, contributing to making space exploration safer for women too.She’ll also be one of the very few women to have lived and worked in Antarctica, breaking boundaries and inspiring the next generation of girls.This chat is for the girl with big dreams and ready to use every tool at her disposal to make the impossible happen. As Dr Sarah says, the world is your oyster.If you listen / watch, let me know your thoughts 🫶

But ever since I've been a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. Dr. Sarah is an ex-NHS doctor who is leaving everything she knows to do research in Antarctica. Concordia Station is the closest thing we have on Earth to Mars. For nine months in this year, you cannot access civilization no matter what happens. You have to deal with it. I know that there's going to be a point where I'm going to hit a wall psychologically and I'm going to be like, I can't do this anymore. I just wish every woman knew that the world really is their oyster.

You can really do anything that you want to do with your life. Because at the end of the day, it is your life. I'm interrupting this message from Japan because you have given me no other choice. I got the shock of my life the other day when I looked on the Spotify charts and found out that our first episode had got us to 45 on the health and fitness charts. and 10, number 10, as in the actual top 10 on the Apple Podcasts charts, that would not have been possible without all of you who left a comment, left a review, listened and downloaded the first episode. And I just want to keep on delivering as best that we can, bringing you

more stories to inspire you and give you actionable steps to help you live a happier, healthier life. So if you do want to keep hearing those conversations and you enjoyed the first one, then please. Please make sure to keep doing what you're doing. Likeing, comment, in, subscribing, leaving a review, whatever platform you're listening to. Thank you so, so, so much. Dr. Sarah, please, can you tell me a little bit about what it was like growing up for you? So, growing up was like, I mean, I had a really amazing childhood,

just to put out of that from the start. But I had the kind of childhood where I moved around a lot. So one thing that I kind of missed, I think, growing up was the sense of what home really was to me. So to give you some context, I was born in France. I did kindergarten and Turkey. I moved to Switzerland where I lived for 10 years across two different cantons. And then I moved to Singapore at the age of 12 and lived there until I was 18. And then I came to London for uni.

Oh my gosh. So really kind of like all over the place. and like growing up I didn't really have a sense of belonging necessarily anywhere and I think that's only come into play in the last couple years because I've been now in London for eight years my parents are fully settled now in Switzerland so now I feel like I've got two homes but yeah I had a really great childhood growing up and I think the biggest thing that I see from it is essentially I just see it as a massive privilege to have been able to travel so much. And it also means that I'm now at a point where moving across the world or like leaving the UK or leaving family behind isn't

something that's scary to me. And it's not something that holds me back. And I also think that moving across so many different places as well, like it broadens your cultural horizons like nothing else, especially the fact that I lived in Singapore and was able to experience so much of Southeast Asia at a point in time where I could actually remember everything. And yeah, it was just absolutely incredible. I think that was so interesting that you said, no one ever quite felt like home. But the first thing that popped into my mind was then what you said about how it just completely expanded your horizons and obviously we'll come on to what the next year is going to look like for you and what a huge terrifying step that must have been. But it makes so much

sense why you have the confidence to make that step when the world has just been your oyster for the entirety of your life. And so I'm from North Wales and when I moved down to uni in the south of England, so like six hours away, one of my best friend's mum said to me, do you not feel guilty moving away from your parents? And my mum and dad are very like they, they're, they've lived all over the place. And I remember thinking, God, I've literally never thought of that because I think similar to you, it's always been instilled in me, you know, go off, spread your wings, explore.

Could you tell me a little bit more about what you mean by nowhere, like, quite felt like home? Yeah. So the period that I spent in Switzerland was up until the age of about like 12. basically I think all the all the years I spent there it was a time in my childhood where you're still like developing a lot like I don't remember a lot of the stuff from when I was I don't know like six or whatever so I don't feel like those are like fully formed memories and when I moved to Singapore that was my home I guess for six years but it was so far away still from like everything

that that I'd known that I never saw Singapore as home I saw it as like, this is a really cool experience and we're like doing loads stuff and it's completely new culture. And I think the fact as well that between, despite living in Switzerland for 10 years, we also switch schools around. And when you switch schools, especially as a kid, you form friends and then suddenly those friendships fall apart because now you're moving somewhere else. and especially as a kid you rely a lot on your parents maintaining connections with your friend's parents rather than you maintaining that connection when we were in Singapore as well my dad had to move to the states for work for the last I think two years when we were there so that also kind of split our family apart a little bit and made everything kind of always in

motion and nothing kind of settled yeah and it was just always just constantly changing friendships It was constantly changing environment and I never felt like, yeah, okay, this is the place I can call home. And part of it as well was when we were living in Singapore as well is we wouldn't necessarily go back to Switzerland like every summer or something because we'd often go to London actually to visit some really close friends. Yeah, it only kind of came to play when I was in uni and probably like halfway through uni where I was like, yeah, actually Switzerland is home and now London is as well in a way.

You've got a twin sister. Yeah. Do you have any other siblings? No. No. So you and your twin twin sister and you're both doctors. Yeah. When did you guys decide that you wanted to be doctors?

Okay. So first off, this was not at all planned by my parents. But basically, so my sister has wanted to be a pediatrician since about the age of like six, I want to say. and when she was eight or something she did a pediatric's like mini internship with our pediatrician actually when she was eight yeah so long no honestly

like she has been on that path for like her entire life and she was like yeah I love kids I really want to like do pediatrics and now she's kind of morphed into wanting to do pediatric orthopedics wow yeah so she's like full on she's always been very very sciencey and sort of like science math girly

and I was always really into sciences as well but my other great love was literature. And when I was going through, like I took English lit for IB at higher level and it was really my jam, and I did biology and chemistry as well at higher level. Because unfortunately, when it comes to picking a subject for uni, obviously when you pick literature or sort of one of the softer subjects,

the job prospects are a little bit more, like, tenuous, I guess. basically it came to a point where we had to start looking at uni's and sort of considering what we wanted to do and I actually really liked chemistry and I think I liked it even more than biology when I was doing it in high school I know right I know and then I end up in medicine we don't touch a single chemistry anything if you're not what if you're listening my face I hated chemistry and it's just insane it's ridiculous that that is what you need chemistries to do medicine, not biology. I know. And you're right, you hardly touch on it.

Chemistry A level was the bane of my life. So I have so much respect for you. No, I honestly, I loved it. I think a lot of it had to do with the teachers that I had because they were amazing. But yeah, I absolutely loved chemistry. And I also, I mean, I must have been like 15 or 16 when I started thinking about, like, really what I was going to do at uni. And I knew I wanted to do a STEM subject. and I knew it was not going to be physics at all because I did not like physics.

Basically, at the age of 15, I absolutely loved the show Sherlock, the BBC show, yeah, and I got really into forensics. And I was like, this stuff is cool. And I was like, I love like all this like crime murder mystery stuff and all this like other world, basically. And I was like, oh, well, I could do forensic toxicology. So my original plan was to go to uni and do campus. chemistry. And one of my my GCSC biology slash chemistry teacher, he was a really great, like, guy

Scottish, really funny, somehow persuaded me to go into medicine because of the job prospects. He was like, you should do forensic pathology, not toxicology. And I was like, okay, well, I guess I'll do medicine then. And so it's like day and night, come with like me and my sister. She's like, yeah, I want to do pediatric orthopedics. And I'm here like, okay. I mean, I guess I'll do it and do pathology and so I applied for medicine and got in and yeah I really just want to touch on something that you said earlier where you called literature softer subjects like literature and we'll come on to all the incredible stuff you're about to do as a woman in STEM but I think it's so so so interesting that we do see those subjects as softer yeah that tend to be

more associated with women. And it's just interesting. It's interesting to pick up on. So then you come to medical school and you decided to set up a society as a woman in STEM, the first person to set up this society. Could you tell me a little bit about that society and what led you to be interested in that in the first place? Yeah, so for context, I created my university's aerospace medicine society. For clarity, I do think there was one ages ago, but like at the time when I was in med school, it didn't exist. It fizzled. Fizzled. You reburbed it. I did rebirth it. I made a new logo and everything and printed out stickers. It was a lot of fun. But if I dial it back down and like think about it to the basics of actually creating the society, part of the reason was because getting involved in societies is good for.

your CV and I knew that I wanted to have like a competitive application when it came to F1 F2 because I wanted to stay in London. For anyone who's not medical F1F2 is your first two years as a doctor. Yeah, exactly. And at the time when we were still in medical and when we were finishing, what you had on your CV did make a difference as to where you were going to be placed. And London is obviously the most competitive area to be in and I also knew that I wanted to have an academic post which raises like the competitiveness even more it basically means that you get four months allocated to pure research time which is a huge huge privilege instead of being around in the hospital basically so I knew that I wanted to have

something good on my CV and getting involved in societies is great for leadership for communication just teamwork all that kind of stuff so I dabbled in a couple of society things in my second year of university, I didn't do anything in my first year because I was like figuring out what the hell I'm doing. And then in my third year, I think, I was like, okay, I really like aerospace medicine. I love space. I've just found out about this. And I was like, okay, I'm going to do society. If I take it back even further, the whole space thing, this is going to sound so cliche. But ever since I've been a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. That was like my dream, you know, to go to space. It's still.

is. But, you know, being an astronaut is like, when you ask kids what they want to be, and they're like, oh, I want to be an astronaut. It falls in the same category of, I want to be a wizard or, you know, like something where you're like, this is completely unrealistic. And then you grow up and you're like 18 and picking your university subjects. And you're like, well, there's no course for an astronaut. And I'm going to go and do something sensible now, you know. But I never really let go a space. And then when I was sort of in my teens, I became like a huge Trekkie. And I say that, but I've only seen the new films, so don't come for me. I haven't seen like the 1960s TV show. So I'm, I'm going to have to interrupt you. When you say Trekkie, do you mean a Star Trek? Star Trek.

Okay, Fab. Yeah, so Star Trek. Nice. I was never on the Star Wars hype. Sorry, guys. But, yeah, so I loved Star Trek and just space in general. and I remember I had a galaxy-themed backpack, you know, when galaxy print was all the rage. I did not have the leggings. I had a backpack, though. I loved it. Yeah, and I just always loved space.

And then I started med school, and I was, you know, I went into med school and I was like, yeah, I'm going to do forensic pathology. And I was actually pretty close-minded about it. And I was just like, yeah, this is the only thing I'm going to do, which always got really raised eyebrows from all of my, like, supervisors or consultants in the hospital. when you go around on placement, they're like, oh, what do you want to do? And everyone's like, oh, peas, orthopedics. And you're there like, yeah, I want to do forensic pathology, not stealing with the living.

For anyone who's not medical, do you want to explain what forensic pathology is? So forensic pathologists are essentially the doctors who go to crime scenes and perform autopsies. So essentially cut open dead people to find out the cause of death, be it for a suspicious death or or not. And they also go to court and present their findings, et cetera, for certain cases. But you pretty much don't

deal with living people, at least not in the UK primarily. So yeah, it's very different to most people who apply to medicine who are there because they want to help the living. Yeah. So I basically just kind of carried on through med school and I was like, I'm going to do forensic pathology.

And at some point, I don't know when I had this eureka moment, or what it was, I was still thinking about space and I was like, well, if they're sending people to Mars or to the moon, like surely at some point they're going to need to have a doctor, maybe I watched Alien and there's a doctor in there and I was like, oh, you know, that makes sense. And then I just like did a bit of a Google and I found out about aviation and space medicine. And I was like, oh, well, that's really cool. And kind of, it was at a time as well where I was, focusing on myself a little bit more and like my fitness and I was getting a lot more into hiking

and being outdoors and the whole outdoor and expedition medicine side collides very much with aviation space medicine. So I was like doubly interested in these two things. And I did a bit more digging and I mean we'd had a lecture on expedition medicine and that was it and I absolutely loved that lecture also because the lecturer was amazing. And so I was just like, well, I'm going to create the society because I think that's the best way to learn more about. it and get experts in. And at the same time, I started doing a bit of Googling and found out that the European Space Agency run a human space physiology course that's online. And I think it runs for like two weeks. And I did it during COVID, like whilst I was also doing my forensics

masters, so everything was online, which made it super accessible to me. Because I think usually it happens in person in like, Cologne. But yeah, so I did that as well. And it took, taught me a lot about the way in which human physiology changes in the space environment and everything that needs to be considered in terms of health in space. And yeah, and we even got like, we had a Zoom call, I think one of the astronauts on the ISS at the time, which was like really cool. Wow. Yeah, and I just really fell into that niche. And I still put it kind of on the black burner because it still felt a bit of like an, it's not a direct specialty. Like there's no Oriole training pathway to aviation space medicine. But I still clung onto it and I clearly have

not let it go. Yeah. If anyone, not medical, Oriole is this, the most awful platform that all doctors have to use to apply to all their jobs and it's horrific. But that it's, it's, yeah, You couldn't apply for space for a training pathway or space medicine. But I think the whole setting up a society building a community of like-minded people, would you say that having grown up where nowhere quite felt like home, I'd imagine having that society gave you connections and gave you that sense of community in London? Absolutely. And I think I think the great thing about university,

society's societies and to anyone who's listening who's interested in something niche and is at uni literally just go make a society like nobody will stop you if you have a good enough proposal and you're enthusiastic enough the university should be encouraging you to do this really and truly there are some lasting connections that I've made there which we'll talk about in a bit of short but the very first person who joined the society she's a year above me in terms of medicine and she's actually currently doing the job that I will be doing for the next year. She is super into space. She's like one of the coolest people I've ever met.

And we really gelden connected. And we've worked on research together, which I presented this past October. And it got me my first sort of first author of publication, etc. And she's been, in a way, a really great mentor to me for the whole aviation and space situation. And funnily enough, actually, I think the second person that I brought in to talk for the Aerospace Med Society, her name is Martina here. She's a German physician by background, and she specializes in gut health. And I will actually be running one of her experiments whilst I'm on the other side of the world. So it was a very full circle moment to kind of have a call with.

her recently and being like, oh hey, now we're basically colleagues and we're working together on this crazy experiment. So really full circle moment. I think that's just such a lesson in being open and open about your interests and not trying to fit your interests in with everyone else because actually most of the time, if you raise your hand up and say, this is something I really, really, really care about and I'm interested in. You're giving other people a space to share that interest, even if it feels niche and building connections that can not only help you personally in scratching that itch of an interest, but then also in your career, which is like incredible. So you set up this society, still space was on your mind, the dreams of being an astronaut

was still there. Then you start working as a doctor. Now tell me how has that been. Okay. So I still remember when I got the offer of an academic job and I think that has really saved me. It was January before we were graduating from med school, so January 2023 and I got the offer that I'd gotten a research post within my sort of foundation year to year. And my research block was right at the very end. So we switched specialties three times a year. And that research block was right at the very end of my second year.

So for me, since I started F1, that research block has been a light at the end of what has felt like a very long tunnel. And if I'm honest with you, I think it was halfway through med school where I started questioning whether or not I was really supposed to be here. because I didn't feel very enthusiastic about the whole of what like medicine really is. I didn't see myself as a GP, still don't, didn't see myself as someone who could do ward rounds and really kind of connect with people on the hospital floor. It's not really my thing actually. And I think that's not really that surprising considering I went into medicine. school wanting to do forensic pathology. I think it takes a very specific sort of personality

to want to do that job. And I still would probably consider it further down the line. But yeah, it's not, I don't think it's like your typical person who goes to med school, right? So starting F1 was, I was just suddenly there and I had patients to look after and I was like, oh my God, like, what am I doing? Why am I here? Can I, am I even a good doctor? and you're I was just surrounded by people who were really enthusiastic about what they do which is amazing and that's absolutely what you want um but I didn't feel that same enthusiasm and I felt like I wasn't supposed to be here and like I'd taken a spot away from someone who really wanted to be a doctor and I started F1 in a respiratory job which was you know retrospectively it was probably the best thing I could have started on because it was the steepest learning curve I have ever been like put on. It's really like we'll throw you in the deep end of like this really deep like the Marinar trench and you got to figure it out.

And I remember my first on-calls, I think I started, I think my first on-cores were night shifts actually. Gosh, rough. Like two weeks in brand new F-1. I'm like, I just about know the layout of the hospital. and I was at a district general hospital which basically means I wasn't at like a super specialist hospital and generally tend to be less well-staffed

exactly a little bit more you have a lot a lot more responsibility generally as an F-1 exactly yeah as a first-year doctor yeah exactly so as like the on-call team overnight was me two SHOs who are either one year above me or up to three years above me and one registrar and we were covering like something like 20 wards or something with about 20 patients in each ward

at least. Quick mass. 400 patients. And I mean like you could get a call about any one of them. The only words we weren't covering were the surgical wards and then everything that has to do with A&E we weren't part of that. But I mean it's a lot of people

that someone can call you about in the middle of the night and I was sort of two weeks into my F1, I'm like, I don't know what to say no to. Because it's the kind of thing where when you're dealing with people's lives and things that can go like south very quickly, it's kind of like, well, if I say no to something and then something goes wrong, oh my God. So I was saying yes to everything and be like, I need to go and see this person in person and running around the hospital. And I was just so overwhelmed because I also didn't see my seniors physically. like pretty much the entire time until there was like an arrest call an arrest is where someone's heart

stops so for all intents and purposes they are dead yeah and then obviously that's like you drop everything and you go and everyone shows up but apart from that I like was on my own on the floor just with my belief that wouldn't stop going off and I

had to take these particular blood tests called abgs where you take they're pretty nasty take them from the artery and the wrist and they have to be done at a certain time in the morning because it's basically for you to check how well breathing machines have worked for a lot of the patients on the respiratory awards and I had to go around the respiratory wars around like six o'clock in the morning and go and do all these blood samples so after your night shift yeah so like as the night shift was ending basically yeah so I had kind of has a timed task on my list and I remember going to the respiratory wards on like every single one of those five night shifts and at around 5.30 I'd like try and wrap things up 5.30 I would go to one

of the offices in those wards. I would sit down, look on my list like break down and just cry and then I'd be like right we have a timer because I have to get up at six and go and do all these blood tests. So I was like, I'll have a timed cry session for about like 15 minutes and then get myself together and go and do all these blood tests. And it was just really rough. So that's kind of how it started. It did get better because with experience, you learn what is important and what isn't overnight. You learn how to say no to things. You learn how to prioritize as well, which is a really important skill.

But it's the kind of skills that you can't develop until you're actually like thrown in that sense. situation and it's very much you learn on the job. So I will say I've had a lot of high highs and a lot of low lows during my F1 and F2 years and I'm really grateful for them because I learned so much about myself, about other people. And to echo you, Faye, on one of your recent posts, being a doctor has honestly been like one of the biggest privileges on my life. You see people at the most vulnerable and all you're there for is trying to help. And whether or not they understand that or you can communicate it is really partly on you. And you see people from all walks of life, especially in London. You know, people who've had everything handed to them and people who haven't

and people who are homeless, people who are addicted to things, people who are having mental breakdowns or who are mentally unwell and you have to try and communicate with them in a way that will make them understand when they're not really there. So it's taught me a lot about how to communicate with people and also how to really become comfortable with the unknown. Because when you're on call or when you're working in A&E, you can have anything thrown at you. And you need to just have a structure behind you that's like, okay, I can fall back on this no matter what and figure my way out from there. and for that I'm immensely grateful that I've not only made it through the two years but that I actually ended up doing it and that I ended up going through med school.

And it's been a long road but I honestly wouldn't change it for anything. Something I really struggle with is knowing when it's worth when something is hard whether to push through or if, if something is hard, whether to push through or if, it feels hard because it's not like a right fit. And I think similar to you, I felt like a round peg in a square hole. And I didn't know whether being a doctor was something I should just push through and keep going or whether that was a sign that maybe I should try something else.

And I completely agree with what you said. I think doing those two years, it was the best decision I made. I feel like I grew up overnight. it's just the craziest first few months it really is and I got goosebumps then when you um when you were saying about you know going into that room at 5 30 and just crying because I I just remember on calls I'd be like I'd look at my phone and you know go okay I've got five minutes to lock myself in this toilet and cry and then get back out there and keep going

yeah because you just you just don't have a choice yeah but I think it's interesting because there are actually a lot of, then you work with certain people and you realize, God, you do not have this level of accountability to yourself. Like, there's a lot of people you work with who, you realize they're not as worried about doing, working hard and doing well by their patients and doing well in their job. And you said, I was worried if I wasn't, I was worried whether I was even a good doctor.

I think worrying whether you're even a good doctor makes you a good doctor. Yeah. I think the worst doctors I've worked with have been the ones that they definitely don't worry about that anymore. How did you decide that this isn't just hard for me to grow as a person, but it's hard because maybe I should try something different? So I've been doubting whether or not I wanted to really continue with medicine for, yeah, ever since I was kind of halfway through med school. And I think doing my integrated year, this master's was. really the break that I needed. And the reason I didn't give up at that point was because I told myself, hey, I'm too

far in already. I could technically drop out and end up with a bachelor in, I think it's biomedical sciences or something. But I was like, I actually like university. I don't think I really liked med school, but I liked university. And I was like, I'm just going to push through it. Same thing with F1 and F2, especially when I got the research job. I was like, I worked my butt off to get this job. So I will see it through to the end. I did that mostly because you get the qualifications.

So I was like, I'm going to graduate for med school because then I have an MBBS. I have the medical degree which opens up a world of opportunities. And everyone says that and I sound like a broken record, but it is actually true. So that's why I stayed. Now I'm leaving the NHS

now that I've finished my F2 and honestly I was considering sticking it through originally I was just like what am I going to do in six months time with my life when I finish F2 like what is going to happen and I basically was in a position

where I was like oh what am I going to do with my life and I was like the only thing that I know is I don't want to be unemployed so basically the way I went in to it was I'm going to keep all my doors open. So I maxed out my applications. I applied to IMT or internal medicine. And then I applied to pathology because I was like, well, I did go into med school wanting to do pathology, so I might as well apply. And I was filling out these questions on my application. They were like, you know, why do you want to be a pathologist? What's your background? And I applied for internal medicine training. And they asked me in my interview. They were like,

why do you want to be an IMT, like doctor? And I was just there like, I don't even know what I said. But the entire time I was like, I feel like I'm really lying through my teeth because I don't actually want to do this. Yeah. And I mean, it showed through because I didn't get an offer. And it was in January. I found out, well, I realized that the European Space Agency had put open a call to doctors

to go and work in Antarctica for a year. Oh my God. Yeah. And I just had my laptop out and I was like, well, you know what? I'm going to apply to this. And I just, I wrote my little motivation letter, filled out the forum and applied. And I was like, well, this is part of me keeping all my doors open because I don't know what's going to happen. And then talk me through what happened when you got that offer coming for that job.

and whether you had any reservations because going away for Antarctica for an entire year you're cut off from the rest of the world for nine months no planes come in or out the research is pretty intense

was there any reservations you had for accepting that offer and just sticking with the easy path and continuing on your path being a doctor so honestly I don't think there's been a I can't think of a single moment

since I applied for that job where I've had any sort of fear or been like oh I don't think this is for me or any sort of doubt that this was something I wanted to do and I am not a confident person

like I'm not a self-confident person I think I have improved on that in over the past few years but as a base side I'm not very confident in interviews like I am sweating through my clothes and I'm panicky and I'm like oh my gosh like this is so scary same thing with public speaking you know I remember getting my first interview for the job offer with um for Antarctica and it was a team's call and I log into this team's call and I'm in the

waiting room and the background is of a galaxy with the European Space Agency's logo in the in the corner. And I was just sitting there waiting for the interviewers to log on, being like, oh my God, I'm having an interview with the European Space Agency. Oh, what is my life? You know, this was like, little me wanting to be an astronaut being like, oh my gosh, I was freaking out. But in a good way.

And, like, I spent the entirety of that interview just smiling because my head was just like, oh my gosh, I'm, I'm like speaking to people from Issa. What? What? And I was just like, this is so exciting. Even if I don't get the job. Like, oh my gosh.

And they did say that came through. They said, you know, you were very enthusiastic. And that was part of the reason why we picked you. And I was like, I hope so because like I could not stop smiling. In terms of actually getting the job offer, I was in a position at the time where things were very unclear because I had three days before getting the offer from Issa. I'd rejected an offer for pathology training. So you rejected your doctor job before you got the offer back?

Yeah. That's quite balsy. Yeah. And this is also on a background of me, like, absolutely not knowing if I was going to get this job. I was up at that point, I'd done my second interview. And the second interview, they invite three people there. So I knew the chances were like, you know, one and three. Not bad.

But I still didn't know. and I got this offer for pathology. I was just walking around and I get a text message from Aurel. And I looked and it said, you've got an offer for pathology five years in Bath slash Bristol. And I remember just looking at it and I felt nothing. Hmm. I was just like,

I don't really see myself packing up everything and moving to Bath or Bristol and staying there for five years and working in the NHS. I thought on it for the weekend, because it was like a Friday or something when I got it. And then on Monday I had to give them. answer and I just said, do you know what? No. And I think it was the Wednesday that I was in Sainsbury's deciding whether or not to get coconut yogurt or the Faye Yoga when I get this Gmail icon pop up on my phone. And all I see is that little text bubble from like the European Space Agency and it says

we are delighted to. And I was like, I was on the phone with my mom as well at the time. And she was like, oh my God, did you hear from Issa? And I'd already had it in my head that if I got the job, I wanted to tell them, like, with a postcard. So I made up, like, the most believable excuse, and then went to the post office and, like, drew a map of Antarctica and sent them that via the post. And it arrived, like, two days later or something. But yeah, I made up some massive excuse. And my mom, like, completely believed it. Oh, that's so lovely. God, I can't believe you managed to lie. But what made you, what made you, um, what made you, um, decide to send them a postcard?

I don't know. I felt like it was, it felt more personal and more kind of solid. Yeah. I think especially because, I mean, they live in Switzerland, so it wasn't like I could go home and like tell them in person. And I felt like the closest way to telling them in person was to sending them this postcard. And when I went to the post office, I was like, this needs to be express shipped like for tomorrow because I was like, I don't want to keep my trap shot. and the lady at the post office was like it has to be screened through customs it will arrive in seven business days it's like damn it but it actually ended up arriving like a day or two after

my mom called me when I was at work like in the research office and I was like what are you calling me for I'm at work and she was like is it true and I was just like oh my gosh and my dad was actually at work that day so I told her put the postcard like on the dining table where you can see it and tell him to FaceTime me when he gets home. And my dad actually cried on FaceTime, which was like really moving. My dad is like he doesn't cry at all. So yeah, that was very sweet actually.

Oh my gosh. I'm not surprised. I think it's so incredible to not only create that opportunity for yourself, but then have the courage to take it and follow, step off that path that is traditional and feeling like you're a sheep, following the flock, taking that leap of, faith to do something that you've wanted to do since you were a child, which is, yeah, just absolutely incredible. I literally, I do have like goosebumps thinking about it. I'm so excited for you. I think this is the perfect time to ask you, what are you going to be doing in Antarctica and

a little bit about why that is so important that you're doing it as a woman? So to kind of lay down the ground work. The position that I've got is called the Concordia Research MD, and it's a position on a base in Antarctica called Concordia Station, which is jointly run by the French and Italian Polar Institutes. Concordia is, it's specifically used for research to explore kind of human interactions and adaptability to extreme environments. The reason why this particular station is like very important in terms of space medicine is because of its isolation and because of where it's exactly placed. It's inland by about 1,000 kilometers. The nearest other station is 600 kilometers away. And yeah, and it's located on an ice plateau called domes sea, which is at about

3.2,000 meters of elevation, which on the equator is equivalent to about 3.8.000.5.5.5.5. Which on the equator is equivalent to about 3.8 to 4,000 meters. So high altitude, you have chronic, hypoxic, hyperbaric conditions. You're very isolated. You have at least one full day of 24-hour daylight and one full day of 24-hour darkness during the year. And the entire sort of polar light cycle really messes up your sleep and everything. So basically, it's nicknamed White Mars because Concordia Station is the closest thing we have on Earth to Mars. So it's used essentially as a space analog, so as a replica for space. That's where the European Space Agency comes in. So everyone else there is either underneath the French or Italian Polar Institutes, and my role is specifically sponsored by Issa to go there and do

research for them for the year. What I'm doing is human psychology and human physiology research to essentially assess how people in that kind of environment adapt and change throughout the year. And I'm running six different experiments for different labs across Europe that are all approved by the Medical Board of ESA. And it's a range of things from running mindfulness sessions to getting people to fill out questionnaires, to taking blood samples, doing some wet lab stuff, so pippetting stuff in my little to asking people to spit into tubes for me and stuff, that's basically what I'm going to be doing. That's so incredible.

And for anyone who's not medical, do you mind explaining what hyperbaric and hypoxic mean? So hyperbaric means low pressure and hypoxic means low oxygen. So that's kind of the environmental state that exists at that kind of altitude. It's basically what causes altitude sickness. So I have packed some diomarks, which is the kind of reversal drug to altitude sickness. But it can also put people at risk of more severe conditions like flash pulmonary edema, which is where you get suddenly water in the lungs.

And it basically drown to death. Basically. Yeah. At the extreme end of things. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Or you get cerebral edema from high altitude, which is swelling in the brain due to water accumulation there,

which obviously can also lead to death and then you have the host of complications that come with low oxygen so increased fatigue, reduced concentration levels and that obviously affects you psychologically as well, has this kind of knock on effect so that's kind of the environment

and then with the second part of question which is what it is to be a woman there or that implication I guess so they told me when it's a good year there's three women on the station to about nine or ten

men so the gender split is extremely uneven and that's because the people who are there so it's me and one other person who's like the station doctor

and they are like the doctor but that's the only two medical positions the other positions there are some people who are glaciologists who go and do research on the ice then a lot of the crew is actually technicians, plumbers, IT, chef, like essentially fields that are very male dominated.

And it's also not difficult to understand why you'd have more men there, especially in an environment where, like, you can't escape, you can't go home. And a lot of them are kind of in their thirties and stuff, and that's kind of the time period where women are like, when you start family and stuff and all of that. So the gender split is historically very unequal.

Unfortunately, what that means is the people who are the test subjects for all of this research are me and everyone who's there with me for the whole year. So this group of essentially 12 to 16 people. And because of this gender ratio, historically, over 20 years of research at this base, the gender split has been 15% women and 85% men in terms of what we understand of how human health changes in that environment which is pretty much the same thing for when we think about space medicine and what we understand about women's bodies in space

so for me as well and I told them this in my interview actually when they when they brought this up to me and they said hey you know you could be the only woman on the station how do you feel about that and I said for me it's a huge privilege to be in an environment where I can show other girls and other women, you can break this barrier. And I told them, for me, it's a privilege to be in a woman where to be a woman in a space that is so male dominated from every aspect, be it medicine, science, extreme environments, space, all of that. And yeah, and I also told them, you know, for me, it's also like a privilege to be able to

to contribute to this already lacking data that we have on women's health in those environments. Because women also deserve to go to space safely. Absolutely. I just am reminded of what's that, what did NASA do when they sent women to space with... The tampons? Yeah. Was it... I think they were like, do you need like a million tampons for like five days in space?

And it was like, girl, relax. But it just highlights something that is so, like, basic. Yeah. The biggest brains in the world and they don't have a grasp on the basics of women's bodies. And it's just, I think it's just absolutely incredible that you're doing it. Thank you. Are there any personal anxieties that you have as it's getting a little bit closer? I think when I started thinking a little bit about kind of the things that I'm probably going to miss,

especially because today actually is the very last day that I'm going to be in London for like, probably a year and a half, which feels crazy, considering I've been here enough for eight years and it really is home to me now. But so I know that there's going to be a point where I'm going to hit a wall psychologically and I'm going to be like, I can't do this anymore and I need to take a week and just like decompress. And I'm not fearful of it, but I am anticipating it. And I think it helps to have a very realistic view of what it actually is to, what it means. to actually go there and to essentially be on lockdown for like nine months. So I don't know. I'm mostly at a stage right now where I'm extremely excited,

which I think is overshadowing like all of the potential fears and anxieties that I might have. And I think I will probably get nervous when it comes to the actual departure. I know I'm going to miss like, I'm going to miss the trees. I'm going to miss greenery. I'm going to miss my parents and my family, obviously. Maybe I should have said that first. yeah and I mean I guess there's always kind of a lingering I wouldn't say fear but kind of acknowledgement that yeah things can go wrong um touch words god forbid but um like I could get appendicit

in the middle of winter in this place and yeah there is a hospital there is an MRI machine there is an ultrasound scanner but there is like one person there who's properly surgically trained and it's like a two-man thing, you know, to remove someone's appendix. Like something serious could happen like that, be it on base or at home, and you cannot leave because it's just, it's too hazardous for planes to fly, it's too dangerous to get there during the winter months. So for nine months in this year, you cannot access civilization no matter what happens. It's really a, you have to deal with it in the moment scenario. I mean, if I saw every challenge or if I thought about everything that could go wrong and I saw that as a barrier to me actually going, then I wouldn't be able to live my life.

And I think that's part of the reason why it doesn't, it doesn't scare me or anything. But it's definitely something like that is in the back of my mind. Like, yeah, things could go seriously wrong and like you have to deal with it on site. Which is why actually, fun fact, during the winter months, we are more. isolated from civilization than the astronauts on the International Space Station, because they can actually fly down to Earth, and it takes, I think, 15 hours, door to door to the nearest hospital. Oh my God. Yeah, but I think being a doctor, though, you see people who, I don't know, I saw a lot of people who they worked their entire life, grafted away on a 9 to 5, they finally retire at 60, and then

they get a terminal cancer or people who walk outside and they just go about their normal day and they're hit by a truck or they're on a bike or and their lives are cut short completely unexpectedly and I think you're so right you cannot live your life worrying about the the what ifs and it's really interesting that when you were a child and you know it ever quite felt like home but I think that that sense of adventure that that gave you and that ability to adapt to new environments must be a huge huge huge part of that. of why you've decided to do this. And that's such a blessing in so many ways.

Absolutely, yeah. I 100% agree. I mean, it's made me not afraid to step away and be like, hey, I have literally no strings attached. I was like, yeah, I'm going to go do this. Like, why not? It's literally the adventure of a lifetime. And I think as a kid as well growing up,

like not only did I want to be an astronaut, but I was a kid who read a lot of books because I wanted to be in them. And I wanted to go on this crazy adventure, like, Frodo Baggins and the Lord of the Rings, you know, go do something like wild. And like this kind of feels like that. And that's why I'm just kind of really excited. Absolutely. So I am very, very, very keen to see what you get up to in the Antarctica.

Are you going to be documenting or sharing anything whilst you're there? oh yeah so for those of you don't know I also do like influencing as part time job like fake and I do it kind of on sort of productivity and STEM stuff

yeah this actually came up as I was thinking about applying to the job and stuff is obviously like social media is a big part of my life at this point I was like it would be really cool to be able to document and everything and do like day in the life in Antarctica. And this is what I got up to this week and tinker around with me in my lab. So yeah, I will be documenting everything.

And what's really, really great is that the European Space Agency are also fully on board with me doing this. And funnily enough, it did come up in my interview when they asked me about how I felt being the only woman there. And when I told them, you know, it would be a privilege and stuff. they followed it up and I told them kind of you know it would be amazing to inspire young young women and girls to go into this as well they specifically asked me the question of do you have any experience with inspiring people through social media and I was like let me tell

you something you know I was just kind of like this could either go really well or really badly but I think we're definitely in a world where the perception on the use of social media is really changing and what it means to quote unquote be an influencer is also changing and I had my follow up

I had a follow up call with them once I knew I had the job and I said hey so I mentioned this in my interview by the way are you okay with me kind of documenting everything

because I think it's something that people would really want to see and they were fully on board in terms of the logistics of actually filming stuff I've got a couple bits and bobs I will obviously use my phone filming outside is maybe going to be a bit more challenging when it's like minus 15 to minus 100

yeah degrees Celsius um but I'm trying to figure that out as well and meta very kindly set me some meta ray bands so I can do some really cool point of view filming and stuff and I've got like a whole list of content ideas and everything and I will be documenting also the journey like getting there and everything sort of from up to now to the entire year there. And I, for one, will be watching every single video because I'm so excited to see what you get up to and I would really, really, really love if maybe in a year's time you're able to come back on and give us an update of all the highs

and the lows of everything you got up to. We've been asking everyone who comes on the podcast this question. Dr. Sarah, what do you wish every woman knew by the age of 25? So I would say I just wish every woman knew that the world really is their oyster and you can really do anything that you want to do with your life

and that I will recognise that that also is a very privileged take but I do think that there is a huge amount that you can do with your own willpower that will propel you to where you want to be. Do not underestimate the power of what you want to do. If you have a dream, literally go for it. And there will be obstacles in the way, be they financial, social, anything else.

But if you can push through them and really keep that dream in mind, you can really get anywhere you want to be. And that enthusiasm and that drive will propel you so much. much further than having a bit of extra money in the bank or, I don't know, knowing so and so. And I really think at the age of 25 and I speak to so many of my friends and colleagues, people are a bit older than me and stuff. And I just feel like as women, we're just kind of taught that, you know, you have a biological clock and time is ticking and when you get a boyfriend, blah, blah, blah, you know. And it's like, just live your life. Do not.

not let other people, like, do not let other people try and tell you what your life should look like. Because at the end of the day, it is your life. It's nobody else's. And I don't think you should live your life for other people. You should do it for yourself. And please, if there's anything you take away from this, it is that it is good to be selfish, okay? There are limits to that, but it is good for you to put yourself first. And I think also as a doctor, you need to put yourself first because if you are not healthy and if you're not with it, then how are you supposed to help other people? And I think that is definitely a life lesson that can be spread to people who are not necessarily in healthcare. So basically, live your life and don't

let other people tell you what to do. I love that. And I really, really, really hope that that manifests itself by in maybe five years, maybe 10 years. We're seeing Dr. Sarah going up in of space as an astronaut because you decided not to let other people's, you know, opinions change how you decided to live your life. So thank you so, so much for coming on. That was incredible. Oh, I'm so glad. Thank you so much for having me. Oh my God. No, that was so great. Oh, I love that. So, so, so much. Yeah. Thank you.