Posted 5/05/2016 at 9:00:00AM by Shyuan Ngo
I am a research scientist at The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and The University of Queensland. I work with people who are living with motor neurone disease (MND) who want to contribute to, and participate in research that aims to better understand the cause for MND. Outside of research, I work with local communities and Foundations to increase awareness and to run outreach events for families living with MND.
Will to 'Never Give Up' is inspirational
Working with people who are living with MND is something that I would never change. There is a certain humanity and quality of being human that I have been able to experience that I could not achieve by just being in the laboratory. Every day in science, we persevere to make discoveries that will change humankind for the better. But people who are living with MND possess an immense resilience, determination, and fight that is so humbling. Their will to ‘Never Give Up’ is inspirational and it drives me to want to reach greater heights as a means to achieve positive outcomes for them. Their willingness to share their experiences with us allows me to learn about MND in a way that I could never do through reading the literature. This in turn plays a central role in helping me stay focussed on the most pertinent research questions while allowing me to continuously refine research questions.
Empowering with research and information
The method that I like to use to help people who are living with MND is to give them every opportunity to ask me questions. By allowing individuals to ask questions, I can provide them with research information that will empower them, and that will potentially help them to make informed decisions when they are talking to their neurologists or healthcare team.
What do I hope for in the field of MND?
I know that it might seem cliché, but I do hope that that we are able to achieve a world that is free of the impact of MND. As a whole, the MND community is well on its way to making inroads to achieving this outcome. Over the last few years, the huge surge in MND awareness, the efforts to better connect individuals who have MND with researchers and clinicians, and the increase in collaborative efforts across the world is driving progress. MND has, and continues to attract some of the brightest and best minds in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Working together, the MND community will achieve the breakthrough that we so desperately need.
Dr Shyuan Ngo
School of Biomedical Sciences
Univeristy of Queensland
Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital