This week, Aebhric O’Kelly sits down with Dr Ella Corrick, Head of Postgraduate Studies at the College of Remote and Offshore Medicine (CoROM) and Director of the Doctor of Health Studies (DHS) programme. Ella discusses her work as a rural physician in the Scottish Highlands, her role in mountain rescue, and how CoROM is helping clinicians transform operational experience into meaningful doctoral research.
The conversation explores rural medicine, doctoral education, research methodology, healthcare systems in austere environments, and the future of research in remote and resource-limited settings.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and welcome back to the podcast
00:25 Working as a physician in the Scottish Highlands
01:00 Life after becoming a new parent
01:40 Mountain rescue and rural emergency medicine
02:00 Joining CoROM and taking over the DHS programme
03:00 Shared challenges in rural and austere medicine
04:20 Transforming operational experience into research
06:30 Who are CoROM doctoral students?
08:30 Future directions for doctoral research
11:00 Why CoROM focuses on applied rather than laboratory research
12:30 Understanding the Doctor of Health Studies (DHS)
16:00 How long does a doctorate really take?
17:50 Oxford, Nottingham, and Ella’s research journey
22:00 Research on prescribing quality in children
25:40 How doctoral study improves clinical practice
27:40 DHS versus a traditional PhD
29:20 Advice for prospective doctoral students
32:30 Ella’s current research interests
35:00 Mountain rescue, resilience, and rural healthcare
38:00 Books, science fiction, and lifelong curiosity
40:30 Advice for clinicians entering austere medicine
41:40 Closing thoughts
Topics Discussed
Rural and island medicine
Mountain rescue
Doctoral education
Research methodology
Telemedicine
Resource-limited healthcare
Prolonged casualty care
Clinical leadership
Research literacy
Volunteer emergency services
Healthcare resilience
Evidence-based medicine
