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In September, Dr Junjie Zhao (Division of Surgery and Interventional Sciences) travelled to Bordeaux for the 16th biennial meeting of ISACB.
Being in the final year of my PhD, it was important for me to present my research in an international conference as part of my professional development. Thanks to the IHE Early Career Researcher Travel Bursary Award and my supervisors, Janice Tsui and Dr Brian Cousins, I was able to attend and the 16th biennial meeting of the International Society for Applied Cardiovascular Biology (ISACB 2018) in Bordeaux, France. During this adventure, I was given a chance of oral presentation of my PhD research, which was submitted to the conference as an article, titled, ‘A Nano-Island Coatings Promotes Endothelization for Endovascular Stents’.
It was the first time I travelled to Bordeaux. I was absolutely amazed by the landscape of the city, by the wondrous culture and the majestic conference site. I presented our research, still a bit nervous at speaking in front of all the experts and pioneers of similar research fields, but I made it through. The audience were kind, especially one of the hosts of the section, Professor Michael F Wolf (Medtronic), he brought up a few very nice points and questions regarding my presentation. It was nice to have this discussion and to feel that I was able to discuss my topic on a scientific level with a senior scientist whom I did not know. Even though I was able to address all their questions, doing so it also gave me a few new perspectives from which I can re-exam my research, and very constructive feedback for future direction.
I am extremely grateful that I was given the opportunity to go to this conference, which wouldn’t be made possible without my supervisors’ support and the IHE Early Career Researcher Travel Bursary Award. For me, this experience has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.