Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5/Grade 9-10 and Grade 11-12 Biology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks (UK):
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Vanessa Meier-Stephenson from the University of Alberta in Canada. She is trialling a new vaccine for hepatitis C, using several specialist techniques, such as a ‘double-blinded’ approach, to make sure the vaccine is safe and reliable.

• This resource also contains interviews with Vanessa and her Study Coordinator Kelly Kim and offers an insight into careers in medical research. If your students have questions for Vanessa or Kelly, they can send them through the Futurum Careers website.

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Vanessa’s research and challenges them to create a careers leaflet about a role in medical research that interests you.

This resource was first published by Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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