Surgical Society: Pre-clinical Representative

I joined UCL Surgical Society at our Fresher's Fair and have been pleasantly overwhelmed with all they have to offer to expand medical students' insight into a surgical career right from Year 1. From my time in the society, I have attended the WinS Conference, talks from surgeons of different specialities, joined the Peer2Peer Mentoring scheme and applied for shadowing opportunities, as well as attending lectures from the Case to Case: International Paediatric Surgery Teaching Series. All these opportunities have really piqued my interest in surgery as a very exciting and rewarding career path after university, and I am standing to share that enthusiasm with others! I found having such early exposure from the society to the niche careers in the MBBS to be invaluable in developing my interests and portfolio around surgery. This has encouraged me to stand for the role of Pre-clinical representative so I can help to increase awareness for the society amongst the first three years of the programme, so more medics who may not have even considered a career in surgery can benefit from the same exposure and access to the variety of different events as I did to broaden their opportunities and show that a career in surgery is attainable for all. I am very confident and organised which I feel is key to this role to help effectively structure the Surgical CV and Year 1 Survival Guide, but also easily approachable to deliver lecture shout outs and engage the freshers in different events.

Joining the UCL Surgical Society in my first year was a monumental decision that I will never regret. SurgSoc allowed me to gain early exposure in the field of surgery and realise it was something I was passionate about. It is now my conviction that every pre-clinical student, first years in particular, should be able to have the same experience. Medical school is designed to create junior doctors, not surgeons, and this means that there is not a lot of exposure to surgery throughout medical school training compared to other specialties. This is an important issue as I believe it is crucial for medical students to develop an early interest in surgery so they can cultivate the passion and skills they need for a career in this competitive field, and this would be my role as the pre-clinical representative for the surgical society. Being a second year medical student next year gives me a great opportunity to increase the awareness of surgery throughout the pre-clinical years. Having a similar timetable in cruciform means I would be a familiar face and make things like lecture shout-outs much easier and more natural for everyone. Something I found particularly useful in my first year was having a surgical mentor with whom I could discuss all my interests and questions. They would take time out of their schedule to share their knowledge and experience with me, pointing me in the right direction. This is something in particular I would be very keen on promoting for others.