April Cashin-Garbutt

Natural Sciences

April graduated with a first-class honours degree in Natural Sciences from Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. During her time as Editor-in-Chief, News-Medical (2012-2017), she kickstarted the content production process and helped to grow the website readership to over 60 million visitors per year.

Through interviewing global thought leaders in medicine and life sciences, including Nobel laureates, April developed a passion for neuroscience and now works at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, located within UCL.

See less

Articles from April

Anxiety and déjà vu: an interview with Dr Christine Wells, Sheffield Hallam University

It’s thought that the neural basis of déjà vu is located in the temporal lobes, a region of the brain strongly associated with the storage and retrieval of memories. One source of support for this is evidence from individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy, some of whom experience déjà vu episodes as part of seizure-related auras...

3 Mar 2015

Psoriasis management: an interview with Dr Sandy McBride

A major challenge around treating psoriasis is communication - psoriasis can flare and resolve in between appointments so it can be difficult to express and describe the life impact of these flares and recall possible triggers and response to treatments. People with psoriasis can also find it very difficult to talk about their emotions – something known as alexithymia – again making it difficult for clinicians to fully appreciate the impact of psoriasis.

25 Feb 2015

Sugar intake and tooth decay: an interview with Professor Nigel Pitts

Globally, dental caries (the technical term for tooth decay) is the most prevalent non-communicable disease, affecting 80% of the global population. Healthy teeth support overall well-being, while dental caries can contribute to high levels of pain and anxiety, as well as leading to other medical problems.

18 Feb 2015

Changes in moles and skin cancer: an interview with Dr Anjali Mahto, Consultant Dermatologist & British Skin Foundation Spokesperson

Melanoma is the 5th most common cancer in the UK and its incidence is continuing to increase since the mid-1970s. Cancer Research UK reports that its rates have increased more rapidly than any of the current ten most common cancers in males and females. Whilst some of this may be attributed to better surveillance and earlier detection, the real problem lies with sun-seeking behaviour and exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

16 Feb 2015

Electronic cigarettes and smoking cessation: an interview with Professor Peter Hajek

The electronic cigarette has been invented by Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik in 2003. The rise in electronic cigarettes (EC) popularity was initially a grass root phenomenon. EC are estimated to be at least 95% safer than cigarettes and they appeal to smokers who cannot or do not want to stop smoking, but who want to reduce the risks smoking poses to their health.

5 Feb 2015

Genomics of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC): an interview with Professor Thomas J. Giordano

There are two types of thyroid cells and therefore there are two broad types of thyroid cancer. Medullary carcinoma is derived from parafollicular or C cells, whereas follicular cells give rise to several types of thyroid cancers.

4 Feb 2015

Productive Pipetting - Are Robots the Solution?

An interview with Juerg Bass from Integra Biosciences, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of laboratory robots.

3 Feb 2015

Bronchial thermoplasty for severe asthma: an interview with Dr. Rob Niven

Internationally, severe asthma is defined as anybody who is on maximum therapy, which has no measurable side effects, but still have symptoms of persistent asthma. In the UK, that effectively means people who require oral steroids for their asthma two or more times a year.

27 Jan 2015

Tackling preventable blindness: a House of Commons reception review

“Macular degeneration is not life threatening, but it is life changing,” these were the words of Michael Valenzia, of the Macular Society at the recent House of Commons Reception held by AMD Alliance International.

27 Jan 2015

BRCA1/2 analysis: an interview with Jurgi Camblong, CEO of Sophia Genetics

BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are two of the most well studied genes in the cancer field. They are tumor suppressors - mutations in these genes can lead to breast and/or ovarian cancer. Predispositions can be detected in women before they develop cancer.

26 Jan 2015