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Staff spotlight: Ellen Thomas

Name: Ellen Thomas
Job title: PA to Professor Richard McManus, Dean of BSMS
Year started at BSMS: 2007

Tell us a bit about your background

Prior to joining BSMS in December 2007, I worked across East Sussex as a History Teacher and GSCE examiner. Joining BSMS was intended to be a short break from teaching but has turned into 17 years!

I started at BSMS as a Divisional Assistant in Clinical & Experimental Medicine. I worked for several Professors for 14 years before moving to the role of Assistant Data Analyst as part of the Athena Swan Data and Writing group for the successful 2023 Athena Gold submission.

I have just joined the Dean’s Office team, working with Susy Pettit as the Dean’s PA.

What’s your role like day-to-day?

I’m expecting my new role to be fast-paced and very varied; part of my role will involve providing administrative support for developing the BSMS Strategy for 2025-30. I will also assist with School Open Meetings and SEM faculty meetings andsupporting research work undertaken by the Dean, so I’m very much looking forward to tackling a new challenge.

What aspect of your role do you enjoy the most?

I enjoy the logistics of managing a busy diary, collaborating with colleagues andusing my organisational skills to support colleagues. Having worked remotely for nearly 5 years, I’m looking forward to being on campus one day a week and catching up with colleagues in person.

In terms of successes, which accomplishments are you most proud of?

The Athena Swan application was a huge amount of work; collaborating with the team to ensure that the application was not only the strongest it could be, but also submitted on time (no easy feat), was a great achievement that will remain one of the highlights of my time at BSMS.

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Tell me something about you that most people don’t know about you.

I nearly trained as a nurse at St Barts (I wanted to be a surgical nurse), before opting for a history degree instead.

What are your other interests / hobbies?

Walking, reading and gardening. Listening to heavy metal with my sons!