Dr Walker is a paid up member of the Dream Team since 2013, token immunologist and occasional defector from the Immunology Mafia. Registered Clinical Scientist in Immunology with a background in genetics (PhD), microbiology and immunology (MSc), biological sciences (mBiolSci), education (PgCert) and indecisiveness (everything else). Now a Senior Lecturer in Immunology at University of Lincoln.

Those of you who know me know I have a serious problem saying no to any outreach activity, even when it falls well outside the very tiny limits of my comfort zone. My science family have persuaded me to run schools’ days, science clubs for toddlers, blog posts and even the odd science stand-up comedy night. It’s not that I am an extrovert, quite the opposite is true, I am the quintessential laboratory nerd. I like analysing data, planning experiments and some quiet time with my beloved flow cytometer. However, I know the power of outreach and I only need look to the inspirational scientists who came before me, and took the time to speak with me when I was young, to justify pushing myself outside the comfort of my lab and into the spotlight again.  And to be clear. I really love my lab.

So during the summer break my good friend, colleague and mentor @girlymicro picked up the phone and asked how I felt about coming to help support a ‘little event’ she had planned. As I’ve said before, one of the most charming features of @girlmicro is that she rarely recognises what a big deal she is, nor indeed that what she considers a ‘little event’ is most peoples idea of a very BIG deal. Now @girlymicro knows all my weak spots. She knows I love a bit of outreach, she knows I love working with children, she knows I love the drama of the theatre and, more than all this, she knows I absolutely adore baking and harbour an intensely secret desire to be a professional pâtissier one day. ‘It’ll be a wonderful day’, she said, ‘an intimate event celebrating healthcare scientists – you wouldn’t mind baking a cake or two would you?’. I had already said yes and was thinking about recipes when it occurred to me, I hadn’t asked about the venue or numbers, or really anything at all.

Of course, the event was the Bloomsbury Festival(!) and a couple of cakes was a free afternoon tea for all comers. For those of you who don’t know, and perhaps didn’t attend, the Bloomsbury Festival is an annual celebration of the area’s creativity which each year presents an inspiring programme of culture, arts, science, literature, performance, discussion and debate. It is, by anybody’s estimation, a very big deal. And what a wonderful day we had.

The inimitable Nichola Baldwin of Project Nosocomial lead us through three really outstanding performances. Remember, Remember – the amazing *true* story of how three healthcare scientists set out to foil the gun powder plot with help from 9-year-old Princess Elizabeth. For me, this show always delights. The children, and adults, in the audience loved it fuelled by their complementary @girlymicro branded cupcakes. Nichola and @Girlymicro showcased a new play – ‘All opinions are my own’, a powerful performance based on this very blog. I can say truthfully there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. We laugh, we cried, we had a marvellous afternoon tea, and we used voguing to demonstrate the importance of the T zone in appropriate mask wearing. Finally, when the heavens opened and we were sure no one would brave the rain to come to our last session, Nichola and @Girlymicro closed the day with a performance of ‘Mrs X and Me: What is AMR and What can we do about it?’. Despite the rain, the superb actors and healthcare scientists performed to a full house and everyone left truly understanding the looming health crisis of antimicrobial resistance and how we can all play a role in preventing it.

I can’t think of a more appropriate way to celebrate the incredible work Elaine does in science outreach and communication than an afternoon of theatre celebrating healthcare scientists with tea and cake. And now I have my Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering certificates – I might even be persuaded to run another one.

Filmed content linked to the Nosocomial Project can be found here on the Rise of the Resistance YouTube channel.

All opinions on this blog are my own