Surgical Careers Night

The Department of Surgery together with the Surgical Students’ Society of Melbourne (SSSM) recently hosted the Surgical Pathways and Careers Night.

There were 100 students and junior doctors from all year levels in attendance. The night began with light-hearted networking between the students, junior doctors and esteemed speakers over delicious canapés and bubbly.

We were very proud to have six very diverse and talented speakers share their journey with our students and junior doctors:

• Daniel Gould (Final year MD student at the University of Melbourne and first MD/PhD candidate)
• Dr Nicola Fleming (Intern at Austin Health)
• Dr Teagan Fink (Unaccredited General Surgery Registrar at St Vincent’s Health)
• Dr Ajay Iyengar (Paediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellow at the Royal Children’s Hospital)
• Dr Andrew Morokoff (Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Director of the Brain Tumour & Epilepsy Laboratory)
• A/Prof Hamish Ewing (Consultant General Surgeon at Northern Health and RACS Pacific Island Program Monitoring Committee Chairman)

Each speaker delved into their personal experiences navigating a career in surgery; the challenges, the rewards and powerful life-lessons that they’ve picked up along the way. Our attendees were also given insight into the exciting opportunities that a career in surgery affords outside of the operating theatre including research, education and global surgery.

The students and junior doctors were given the opportunity to ask questions and engaged the panel in a thought-provoking Q&A discussion. Common themes of the night were work-life balance, burn out and how to cope with the demands of this career, the importance of mentorship and the endless rewards that a surgical career can bring you.

The event was a great success with positive feedback all round from students and junior doctors. The impact of such an event on our junior colleague’s future direction and career cannot be stated enough. Whether it be the chance to speak with a surgeon in the specialty they aspire to pursue, the opportunity to network and initiate mentorships, or simply listen to those who have been through what they are about to embark upon, events like these leave a tremendous impression on medical students and junior doctors aspiring to become the future surgeons of tomorrow.