Christina Miaris

Since first year, the WINS conference has been a memorable experience. Experiencing such a varied program, cultivated around increasing female representation in surgery, I left encouraged and optimistic.

As a program coordinator this year, I have loved working as part of the team behind the scenes, seeing ideas pitched in our initial meetings come to fruition. Whilst chair will be a step up, I believe that this role has best prepared me to take it on. I have seen the work that goes into running the WINS conference and events and the problems that a chair can encounter. I have had to efficiently deal with several issues, from logistics with biological tissue to missing equipment to technology malfunctioning during workshops.  

As chair, I would create an online WINS forum, where surgeons whom we have previously contacted or collaborated with can directly communicate with the committee about available research and shadowing opportunities. This could enable us to provide students with year-long access to surgeons and contribute towards our goal of increasing accessibility.

I would also like to introduce longer-term mentorships and more frequent talks in collaboration with other surgical societies, having greatly enjoyed organising a collaboration with Cardiothoracics society this year. 

Overall, I would relish the opportunity to give back to the committee which has been such a great source of enjoyment for me since the start of medical school.