CC BY
6Central Asian Journal of Medical Hypotheses and Ethics
2020; Vol 1 (2)
© 2020 by the authors. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eISSN: 2708-9800 https://doi.org/10.47316/cajmhe.2020.12.10
INTERVIEW
MY LIFE AS A RESEARCHER Latika Gupta1 https://orcid.orq/0000-0003-2753-2990
1 Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India
Twitter handle: @LatikaGupta_; E-mail: drlatikaqupta@qmail.com
How to cite: Gupta L. My life as s researcher. Cent Asian J Med Hypotheses Ethics 2020;1(2):158-160. https://doi.orq/10.47316/cajmhe.2020.1.2.10
Introduction
I work as a clinician, researcher, and dedicated teacher affiliated to the oldest rheumatology training institute and tertiary care centre in Lucknow, India. I am a Social Media Editor at the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, Rheumatology (Oxford), Rheumatology Advances in Practice, and Indian Journal of Rheumatology. I also serve as an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases and an Editorial Board Member of several general medical journals. Besides, I act as an ad hoc reviewer for several Indian, Mediterranean, Arabic, and Latin American journals. Last year, I was bestowed the Publons top peer reviewer award for clinical sciences and cross-speciality. I feel grateful for being blessed with a successful academic career with more than 100 indexed publications, numerous awards, travel fellowships, and gold medals.
Besides enjoying medical teaching (mentored numerous conference proceedings, travel fellowships, and research grants) and research in academic interest areas, i.e. inflammatory myositis, spondylarthritis, and technology in science, I enjoy photography, poetry, cycling, travelling, and photo painting.
My researcher career (mentors, path, and main achievements)
I received my undergraduate medical training at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, followed by postgraduate studies in medicine at Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi. Following this, I joined the current department in 2013, and spent four years as a senior resident, followed by a brief training at the Nuffield Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom, and later at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Subsequently, in 2017, I worked in the department as an APLAR Research
Fellow as part of a competitive fellowship grant. After that, in 2018, I visited the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, following which I joined the department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at SGPGI as faculty.
Apart from running the myositis clinic, I have secured extramural and well as intramural funding for various ongoing projects on this rare disease. Besides entering collaborations with European and American counterparts working on myositis, my efforts were seminal in setting up Myositis India, a patient support group. Recently, I organised the first focussed myositis meeting, the myoIN summit, a semi-virtual (hybrid) event in Lucknow. Last year, I passed a training course in laboratory methods for testing rare autoantibodies at the University of Bath, UK. I also serve as the scientific committee member for the IMACS (International Myositis Assessment and Clinical Studies Group), an international scientific organisation working on myositis.
My editor career (mentors, path, and main achievements)
My first foray into the realm of editorship was as an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, where I was asked to assume the role of a Social Media Editor at the end of one year of the Board membership. This opened doors to exploring the ever-expanding domain of technology in science. The COVID-19 pandemic further ushered in digitization, in line with my vision of increasing online reading, interaction, postpublication review, and collaborations for better research. During this wonderful journey, I have enjoyed learning about the intersection of science and technology and the ways and means of enhancing academic engagement through social media platforms.
Apart from my teachers and colleagues from Lucknow, Delhi, and Mangalore, I am grateful to my current mentors, Dr Armen Yuri Gasparyan and Dr Rohit Aggarwal for egging me on to push boundaries and explore further each day. I am most grateful to my students (rheumatology trainees, PhD candidates, and medical undergraduates), who are my greatest teachers, with whom I have thoroughly enjoyed an immersive, mutually-gainful learning experience. I am also grateful to Connecting Researchers and Indian Association of Geriatrics for providing me with the right platform for engaging with mentees in academic learning.
How research and editing transform our scholarly activities
Research lends one the opportunity to think, prove or disprove your hypotheses, and learn from the exercise. As an advocate and routine player of type 2 fun, I encourage scholars to engage themselves in this painful exercise which shall reap joy beyond boundaries with time. Once the seed of imagination is sown, the multifaceted nature of research helps one gain a well-rounded perspective to shape their personality and grow as a thinker, scientist, teacher, team person, writer and manager. It lends the grit to complete the task at hand,
while learning together along the way- from science to language and technology.
Place of hypotheses and ethics in research and editing While hypothesis lends meaning to learning, as one assimilates knowledge to think and understand, ethics promote discipline. As they say, "Chaos in the world brings uneasiness, but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth." Ethical research lends order to chaos while carving an identity and a persona that embraces chaos, and enjoys the fall in the quest to be anti-fragile.
How India may benefit from quality research, editing, and publishing
India has a wealth of data and hoards of patient and physician experience waiting to be captured and analysed. Researchers may play a key role in digging deeper to find order amid the chaos for meaningful directionality in improving healthcare.
My message to ongoing researchers and editors in Central Asia
Your only limit is your mind. Believe you can, and you are halfway there!
ЗЕРТТЕУШ1 ЦЫЗМЕТШЕН МЕН1Н, 6М1Р1М Дэйексвз Yшiн: Гупта Л. Зертгеушi кызметшен менiц eмiрiм. Медициналы; гипотеза мен этиканын, Орта Азиялы; журналы. 2020; 1(2): 158-160. https://doi.Org/10.47316/caimhe.2020.1.2.10
МОЯ ЖИЗНЬ С ПОЗИЦИИ ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЯ Для цитирования: Гупта Л. Моя жизнь с позиции исследователя. Центральноазиатский журнал медицинских гипотез и этики. 2020; 1(2): 158-160. https://doi.Org/10.47316/cajmhe.2020.1.2.10
