Sopio Gverdtsiteli obtained her MD from Tbilisi State Medical University, Georgia in 2019. She worked within pediatric neurology for three years and has experience in working with patients suffering from epilepsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Sopio is especially interested in the pathogenesis of genetic epilepsy and other rare neurological diseases.
Sopio has a medical background, so the lab setting is quite new to her. Through the NAD programme, she is excited to gain hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of the scientific groundwork that directly influences clinicians in their work.
In her research, Sopio is motivated by how scientific discovery can improve treatment and patient lives – the process from bench to bedside:
“During my work as a medical doctor, I have experienced how the work that is done by researchers directly influences the course of disease, disease management and the day-to-day lives of patients. (…) I want to dig deeper into the mechanisms that lead to various neurological diseases and find out how it influences the work done in the clinic.”
Sopio has an inquisitive mind, and she is fascinated by complex problems. For Sopio, the research process is not about finding definitive answers, but about asking better questions.