Haléna Khan graduated with a First Class degree in Biomedical Science with Honours from the University of Birmingham in 2021, completing her final year research project with Dr Steve Thomas in the COMPARE research group in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences. Her research looked at the effect of novel drugs on the cytoskeleton of platelets.
After graduating, Haléna worked for the medical devices company Nonacus performing automated real-time PCR COVID-testing during the pandemic. She then went on to work for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) in the pathology laboratories at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham, before deciding to pursue a role in research instead. Haléna began as a Trial Administrator for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation trust and working on the DaRe2THINK clinical trial run by Professor Dipak Kotecha. It is investigating the effect of giving patients with atrial fibrillation direct oral anticoagulants at a younger age to see whether this reduces their risk of developing long-term complications such as blood clots, strokes and dementia. Haléna also worked on other cardiovascular health trials such as cardAIc study and HYPERMARKER.
Haléna is now working for Department of Applied Health Sciences in the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU) as a Data Manager across multiple trials at different stages. She is expanding her repertoire of research by working in trials in fields such as women’s health and eye health.