Rebecca Butfield

"I would describe myself as inquisitive and interested in either finding a way to do something or thinking creatively about new ways to find solutions. "

"My job looks at identifying evidence to show the value of medicines to patients and to the NHS. Once I have identified what these evidence gaps I work with others in my department to decide on what gaps to focus on. I then use my knowledge of scientific methods to design studies to answer these evidence gaps! Some evidence gaps are standard but some haven’t been studied before and it is my job to work out how we can robustly use science to answer them; it is this part of my job I most enjoy!"

"I always enjoyed Biology at school and went to study Biomedical Sciences at University as I particularly liked human biology and not plant biology!During my course I realised I didn’t enjoy doing research in a laboratory and enjoyed team sports so wanted a role collaborating with others. One part of my degree I really enjoyed was Epidemiology as this looked at research from a population level, not a cell level. I then went onto study a Masters in Public Health which was a mixture of health policy, health economics and epidemiology which gave me a well rounded knowledge of how decisions are made for healthcare. I decided to enter the pharmaceutical industry as I found the pace and variety of work interesting to apply the science I learnt during my degrees. "

"In my spare time I used to cox in a rowing team at university, and then in London - this was great for meeting people after university! Skills I developed through coxing have been key in my job - bringing different team members together to achieve one goal, confidently communicating complex topics simply and tapping into what motivates different people!"

"A lot of my day to day job is self- managed. I will plan my day around meetings with tasks such as - reading about past research that has been conducted and learning about a disease or new methods, designing studies in collaboration doctors, planning how to communicate our research to different people (patients, doctors, policy makers in the NHS, other researchers).The meetings I have are with a wide range of people within the business to link my research to their work and ensure we are all working towards the same goal."

"After GCSEs I did A Levels in Biology, Maths and Chemistry (but I wish I had swapped one for a different A Level to shake it up!) .I went to the University of Warwick to study Biomedical Science and stayed on to do a Masters in Public Health (mainly because they offered a discount to stay on vs going to a different university) "