My street is dirty and chaotic, and it does not end. It just goes on and on and on, feeding into other roads and other streets that all look the same. They wrap themselves around this island, squeezing it, constricting it – sucking the life out of it.

I am Martin Osugo, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist working to improve the lives of people with schizophrenia through both clinical practice and research. I first became deeply interested in schizophrenia in my first year of medical school. That interest eventually led me to a PhD at King’s College London’s Department of Psychosis Studies, two years after I qualified as a doctor. I have cared for people with psychosis in my community and inpatient settings.

At the core of any healthcare or science degree, students learn the importance of numbers. Specifically, “bigger” is often synonymous with “success”. It has been viscerally etched into my brain since my undergraduate Psychology research methods and statistics courses: a larger sample size, meaning more individuals enrolled in a study, increases statistical power and overall confidence in the findings.