Notable Alumni - Beauchamp City Sixth Form | Lionheart Educational Trust

Dr Drew Purves - Research Scientist,DeepMind

Graduated from Beauchamp in 1995

‘There was always an intellectually stimulating environment in the classroom’

In 1998 Drew achieved a Double First in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge before going on to study a PhD at the University of York, followed by a Post Doc at Princeton. He then embarked on an eight year journey as the Head of Computational Ecology and Environmental Sciences at Microsoft Research before he was approached by DeepMind to help design virtual environments in which to train and test AIs. Drew is the Co-Creator of the Madingley Model, named one of the ‘Top Ten Scientific Discoveries of 2014’ by La Reserche, and was included in Wired Magazine’s 2012 ‘Smart List’ as one of 50 people who will change the world.

Dr Rhaana Starling – Associate Professor of Astrophysics, University of Leicester

Graduated from Beauchamp in 1995

‘The Maths teaching team were really supportive and encouraging, and helped me build the strong foundation needed for a career in Science’

Rhaana studied Astrophysics (MSci) at St. Andrews University. She then worked as a Research Assistant at the HarvardSmithsonian Centre for Astrophysics before taking up a PhD position at UCL. Research for her PhD began at the University of Amsterdam and continued at the University of Leicester, where she now resides as an Associate Professor. In 2011, Rhaana was awarded a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship; she has been a co-chair for NASA review panels and an operations scientist for the top ranked NASA Swift mission. She has won a Discovering Excellence award for her work on equality and diversity in STEM and hosted the ESA-commissioned photographic exhibition: Space Girls Space Women.

Pratik Thakkar – Medical Advisor, Bristol Myers Squibb

Graduated from Beauchamp in 2007

‘Beauchamp helped me develop my scientific interest. The teachers, resources and curriculum helped drive my interest in pursuing Science further’

In 2007 Pratik enrolled in the School of Pharmacy at the University of London. After finishing his studies, he worked at Great Ormond Street: first as a General Pharmacist and then as a Specialist Pharmacist. He then joined the UK’s Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Body (MHRA) before joining Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) as a Medical Advisor in Oncology. At BMS, Pratik specialises in the development and evaluation of medicines for skin cancers, and previously in gastrointestinal and paediatric cancers. He is also the Medical Digital Innovation Lead for BMS UK/IE, assessing and executing new technologies to improve research in future medicines.

Uzayr Kader – Computer Science, University of Warwick

Graduated from Beauchamp in 2017

‘Through the Maths Society I was introduced to competitions which stood out on my application to university’

In 2017 Uzayr began his studies at Warwick University after achieving 3 A*’s in Computer Science, Maths and Further Maths at A-Level. His course is partly funded by BAE Systems as a result of his successful application to GCHQ’s Cyberfirst University Bursary scheme. The scheme also grants Uzayr three paid placements with BAE systems. In his first placement he worked in the threat intelligence team monitoring malware, vulnerabilities and suspicious activities. His current placement is with the service transition team. Outside of academia, Uzayr has taken part in Google Hashcode and the ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest).