Surgical Society: Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery Chair

I believe students do not get enough practical surgical experience in medical school, and I want to change that. I have an extensive history of organising in-person teaching events within Medsoc/surgsoc. As your Trauma and Orthopaedic (T&O) chair, I can apply this experience to improving access to T&O education amongst medical students.

The landscape of T&O is changing, and with an ageing population, the demand for T&O surgeons is increasing. I want to inspire the future generation of T&O surgeons by organising talks by guest speakers who are leaders in their speciality.

T&O gets a bad stereotype, that you have to fit the mould. I want to introduce students to the variety of T&O and prove to them that anyone can make it. From our own teaching hospitals to further afield, I want to show students just how diverse T&O as a speciality can be. 

My name is Neal and I would like the chance to be the T&O Chair for the coming year!

Since starting medical school I have had a keen interest in the specialty, and have only grown to love it the more I interact with it - and it is with this passion I would like to head this subcommittee. Having been a part of the T&O subcommittee this year, I have gained insight into how to run events, talks and engage other medical students via other avenues such as interactive quizzes and ongoing research opportunities throughout the year. I aim to continue and build on the work we have done this year to make the events and talks even bigger and better!

Having also been conference facilitator for the International Undergraduate and Foundation year Surgical Conference (iNUGSC) - I have worked closely with a number of Orthopaedic surgeons who are keen on education and teaching medical students, who I look forward to introducing to those of us interested in T&O. If you are looking for more great T&O events led by leaders in their field - vote for me to make this happen!

At UCL medical school, we as students can be limited with respect to clinical experience especially in the first 2 academic years.

However, through UCL surgical society I have been able to explore my interests and gain an excellent insight into potential career paths beyond university particularly T&O be it through shadowing surgeons at the Royal free, attending the BOMSA conference and workshops or through online lectures from leading surgeons all of which have helped me to appreciate the dedication, work-load and genuine passion surgeons require when providing care, and I would uphold and emphasise these values within the role of T&O chair.

By taking on this role I would aim to build on the incredible work done by previous students to create further opportunities and collaborate with other chairs to provide unique events for those with a similar passion & drive for surgery which could be in the form of an interactive student-led trauma and orthopaedics teaching series or with engaging in-person activities such as workshops & seminars. These opportunities would allow students to network not only with each other but with doctors at various stages of their surgical careers creating a healthy future of insightful, well-equipped doctors to treat the population.