Gangtok : Dr. Polly Lama, feel delighted that she has successfully completed PhD in cartilage biology from University of Bristol, United Kingdom last year. The pursuit was difficult but extremely rewarding, she writes to VOS. In brief, after completing her higher secondary (Holy Cross and Paljor Namgyal Girls High School), Bachelor’s (University of North Bengal) and Master’s degree (Manipal University, Udupi ) in India, she worked as a lecturer in Anatomy at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences (SMIMS), and she continued to hold the title even today. During her three and half years of teaching service as an Anatomist in SMIMS, Dr. Polly Lama developed a keen interest in understanding the pathogenesis behind low back pain, as most of her family members as well as the people of Sikkim region tend to be affected with low back pain problem quite regularly. She along with two senior consultant orthopedic surgeons Professor Sudhir Singh (SMIMS) and Dr. Pempa T.Bhutia (STNM Hospital), initiated a small study within state Sikkim to see if there was any association between frequent occurrences for low back pain and a small spinal canal diameter, the results from this study showed a positive correlation, and disc herniation, lumbar canal stenosis, ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament was found to be the major reason why an already comprised canal became even more smaller. Dr Lama says that she was then motivated enough to start a PhD, and came into contact with Professor Michael A Adams, fortunately at that time he had an opening in his lab for a PhD student, after exchanging many emails and a strong recommendation from Dr. Shakunthala Pai (Former Associate Dean Manipal University, Udupi) and Dr. Kumar M.R Bhat ( Associate Professor Manipal University, Udupi), and an ultimate telephone interview where she was finally offered a PhD position with few teaching responsibilities at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom.
During the course of her PhD studies, she’d won best special poster (oral presentation) prize at prestigious International Society for the Study of Lumabr Spine (ISSLS) conference held at Scottsdale, Arizona, USA for her esteemed paper titled “How far into a degenerated annulus can blood vessels and nerve penetrate?”
Dr Lama also got selected for best oral paper presentations at Global Spine Congress, Hong Kong last year for the yet another papers titled “ Can intervertebral disc degenerate before they herniate, or after?” and “The role of cell clusters in intervertebral discs degeneration”. After completing the PhD, Dr Lama was accorded with an honorary research fellow position by the Faculty of Medical and Veterinary sciences at University of Bristol, and committed that she’d continue to hold on to this title until May 2014. My PhD studies were supervised by world famous expert in biomechanics of low back pain Professor Michael A. Adams and Dr. Patricia Dolan, University of Bristol.
Dr Lama have a string of papers coming up in line in highly reputed scientific journals, and one of my paper on disc degeneration has recently become one of the most read article online in the Journal of Bone and Joint surgery (British version), she mentions.
In Pic Dr. Polly Lama with supervisor Professor Michael A. Adams and Co-Supervisor Dr. Patricia Dolan as well.
During the course of her PhD studies, she’d won best special poster (oral presentation) prize at prestigious International Society for the Study of Lumabr Spine (ISSLS) conference held at Scottsdale, Arizona, USA for her esteemed paper titled “How far into a degenerated annulus can blood vessels and nerve penetrate?”
Dr Lama also got selected for best oral paper presentations at Global Spine Congress, Hong Kong last year for the yet another papers titled “ Can intervertebral disc degenerate before they herniate, or after?” and “The role of cell clusters in intervertebral discs degeneration”. After completing the PhD, Dr Lama was accorded with an honorary research fellow position by the Faculty of Medical and Veterinary sciences at University of Bristol, and committed that she’d continue to hold on to this title until May 2014. My PhD studies were supervised by world famous expert in biomechanics of low back pain Professor Michael A. Adams and Dr. Patricia Dolan, University of Bristol.
Dr Lama have a string of papers coming up in line in highly reputed scientific journals, and one of my paper on disc degeneration has recently become one of the most read article online in the Journal of Bone and Joint surgery (British version), she mentions.
In Pic Dr. Polly Lama with supervisor Professor Michael A. Adams and Co-Supervisor Dr. Patricia Dolan as well.
Source: Voice of Sikkim