Stella Bitsika is strongly motivated to make a difference for stroke patients through her research, and she is looking forward to combine insights from basic and clinical research in the NAD PhD programme.
Born in Greece, Stella Bitsika moved to Denmark to do a master’s degree in Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen. Since then, she has been working as a research assistant at the Center for Translational Neuromedicine, where she also did her master’s thesis.
Because of a family history with stroke, Stella has a strong desire to investigate the mechanisms of this and other vascular diseases on a molecular level. The sudden onset of these conditions makes treatment difficult, and Stella’s ultimate goal is to help develop innovative therapies. She is dedicated to making a difference for patients through her research:
”To me, helping people who suffer from sudden diseases is the strongest motivation we can have to do impactful science, It is time-consuming to be in the lab and optimise experiments, but I do not mind because I feel like I am contributing to something more important,” Stella says.
During the pre-PhD year, Stella plans to visit groups that address the topic from different angles, and she wants to combine insights from basic, experimental and clinical neuroscience research in her PhD project
”I would like to be close to patients, trying to combine clinical perspectives with experimental work and basic research. NAD is the best opportunity for me because it allows me to design the project that I really want. I am not doing it alone, so it is nice to have multiple supervisors from both clinical and basic research. I hope to meet different mentors and supervisors that can provide me with new ideas and inspire me to continue my research journey towards improving patients’ quality of life,” Stella explains.