Grande Prairie product doing research at Ivy League school
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A love of medical dramas has led a Grande Prairie product to a research job at an Ivy League school.
Dr. Randi Guest recently completed the first year of an appointment at Princeton University, where she is working on antibiotic resistance.
“What I really liked about those medical shows was the problem-solving aspect. They were given a medical mystery and how they used what they learned throughout their schooling to try and solve this mystery to help these people.”
Guest originally wanted to be a medical doctor before going into research. She studied at GPRC for two years before going on to the University of Alberta where she eventually earned a Ph.D. She applied for the Princeton job during her Ph.D. studies after a researcher there reached out to the people she was working with, looking for researchers with skills like hers. She says her specific area of research is the shell around certain bacteria, how it keeps antibiotics out, and what drugs can make it weaker.
“We use them (antibiotics) for treating infections like strep throat and things like that. They’re also very important for people who are immuno-compromised, like people who are receiving cancer treatment or people who’ve just received an organ transplant. The success of the medical attention they’re receiving is really contingent on antibiotics working.”
Dr. Guest says it is expected that by 2050, more people will die of antibiotic-resistant infections than die of cancer now.
It is not all work for her while she is in the US, though.
Guest says Princeton, New Jersey is not as densely populated as some other areas around there and is an hour away from both New York and Philadelphia.
“I really like New York. It’s actually kind of fun. My husband and I didn’t know what we were going to do one night, so I just said ‘Hey, let’s go to New York.’ (That’s) something I can’t do back in Grande Prairie (laughs). That’s been really cool.”
Guest she “would love” to move back to Canada one day. Her stay at Princeton is considered extended training and such appointments usually last around five years.