Louise Wright

Current Employer/Organisation Name

Nuffield Health

What have you been doing since leaving Exeter, and what are you doing now?

After leaving initially I set up my own PT business in Oxfordshire before moving to London to be an exercise specialist for Nuffield at a corporate site. Then I transferred into the Health and Wellbeing Physiologist team, working in this department as both a Physiologist and part of the governance team until my promotion to National Lead.

Why did you choose this career? And what do you enjoy most about your work?

I’ve always had a focus on helping people, whether from an educational point of view or from a health promotion point of view. So moving from personal training to physiology made career-sense. I still get this satisfaction within my role now, but my interests have developed to also include clinical effectiveness and governance, and how we can make sure people and service lines are of the highest quality as well as safety.

Please tell us if you were a member of any societies, groups or sports clubs?

Netball, Action After Stroke.

What did you enjoy most about your programme and what was the biggest highlight?

The variety of the modules (in the first instance) to provide an overview of what sport science entails and then the ability to narrow down your interest. I appreciate this is how University works, but the modules were set up really well to compliment each other and therefore link well together from a learning perspective. The lecturers also had a real interest in the students and allowed me to understand how they would be of benefit to me “in the real world”!

What did you enjoy most about studying here?

The course was the reason I chose Exeter, alongside the location – I loved St Luke’s Campus and in my first year being able to live on site was an added bonus. The campus felt like a community.

Why did you choose to study at Exeter?

The course aligned to what I wanted from a Sport Science course. The location and the facilities sealed the deal.

What skills and experiences have been most useful for your career?

Putting myself in the shop window and out of my comfort zone has allowed me to develop skills I already had such as organisation and time management, and develop those I didn’t (or didn’t really like) such as public speaking, or influencing (up and down).

What advice would you give to a current student who wishes to pursue your career?

Don’t sit back and wait for things to come to you. Get out there and ask people for experience and exposure to things you might not have done before. Be realistic too – work is meant to be rewarding and enjoyable, but it can also be hard work so this needs to be expected! Think about what you need to be resilient and the best version of yourself, and carefully consider what you want, then go and get it.

What are your plans for the future?

Continue to lead and develop Physiology at Nuffield Health.