From footballer to immunologist
Published: 11 March 2021
Former iii PhD student Dr Josh Gray is the subject of a feature in the Northern Echo newspaper describing his journey from professional footballer to Immunology postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University.
Former iii PhD student Dr Josh Gray is the subject of a fascinating feature in the Northern Echo newspaper describing his journey from professional footballer to Immunology postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University.
Upon joining English football club Darlington on a YT contract, he was enrolled onto a college course at Darlington College in a National Certificate in sporting excellence.
He was then offered the chance to turn the National Certificate into a National Diploma after signing a two-year professional deal at 17 years old - and this is what lead him down a scientific route.
Josh explained: "By the time the two years were up, it was time to make a decision – football or science. I knew I was never going to make it as a top footballer, but I thought maybe I could make a career in science.”
Next, he took an access course at Gateshead College and went onto study Biomedical Science at Northumbria University, where he gained a BSc.
Upon receiving his degree, Gray undertook a PhD in immunology with us here at the Institute of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation in the laboratory of Dr Megan MacLeod.
His thesis, entitled Molecular Mechanisms of Antigen-specific Memory CD4 T Cell Tolerance and the Implications for Tolerogenic Therapy, was successfully defended on 7 June 2019.
Upon receiving his doctorate, Josh moved to New York to become a postdoctoral research at Columbia University in the United States.
Josh said: "My career aim is to use my initial studies in order to become a Principal Investigator and expert in the field of adaptive immune responses and T cell memory, with the ultimate aim to set up my own lab."
First published: 11 March 2021