Sammy Shittu

"Statistics was my favourite module because I loved that I was either right or wrong."

I was inspired to learn more about psychology as a teenager after my brother suffered a brain haemorrhage. Watching his recovery made me want to understand how he was healing, and why the brain effects so many areas of one’s life.

Unlike some of my fellow students, statistics was my favourite module because I loved that I was either right or wrong. I also really enjoyed the ‘brain and behaviour’ module.

I used the Employability Centre multiple times, especially for creating my CV. Sometimes I just needed reassurance that my applications were of a good standard and to understand what I could add to make my application stand out. I also learnt a lot about how to handle interviews, such as what sort of questions to ask the interviewer, and how to structure my response to their questions.

After completing my undergraduate degree, I decided to do my Masters at Essex due to the generous alumni discount. My Masters degree gave me a chance to learn more and get into the field I am in now which I probably wouldn’t have been able to do.

I got a job offer whilst I was still doing my MSc Dissertation in July 2019, as an associate image analyst for a biotechnology company called IXICO. I started to  analyse and quality check brain images of individuals with neurological and neurodegenerative diseases who are undergoing clinical trials, as well as setting up MRI scanners around the world making sure they scan patients in a safe way.

Since then I have progressed at IXICO to managing different clinical trials and working alongside the giants in the pharmaceutical industry. I look forward to what is yet to come in they world of neuro!