Surgical Society: Neurosurgery Chair

Running events as neurosurgery core committee taught me the leadership skills and logistics behind organising events/conferences, inspiring individuals to pursue this amazing field. This introduced me to my role models and sparked my enthusiasm for the brain. Working in numerous societies (National Medical Research Association, WinS, RUMS RAG and UCLWMS) gave me experience across multiple disciplines, from finance to education, necessary to lead a team of like-minded people. Working as a team to organise Brain symposium, WinS and International Space Medicine conferences motivates me to lead a neurosurgery specialty conference. As Neurosurgery Chair, I wish to share my passion for neurosurgery with others and inspire more students to pursue this challenging yet rewarding field in the same way I was. Undertaking a Neuroscience iBSc strengthens my desire to pursue neurosurgery. It provides me with contacts necessary to organise talks with neurosurgeons from different backgrounds to improve accessibility and inclusivity in neurosurgery. Receiving neurosurgery mentorship and being a mentor through teaching empowered me and taught me the resilience required to dream big. Hence, I aspire to work with outreach to create a mentorship scheme. Conducting numerous research projects, such as DBS for refractory OCD and Risk of Aneurysm Rupture Study, showed me how a hypothesis translates to clinical practice. Hence, I wish to promote academic neurosurgery by creating research initiatives.

Hi! My name is Julia and I want to be your next Neurosurgery Chair. My main aim is to improve our community, help our members develop their knowledge of neurology & neurosurgery, and get you guys excited for your future neuro-careers.

I’m fascinated by neurology & neurosurgery and am constantly trying to find new ways to develop my knowledge in these fields. From being a peer reviewer at a student neuro-magazine “Neurosphere” to taking part in surgical conferences, workshops, and summer courses, I have been actively searching for knowledge and opportunities for growth.

In the last year, I have been involved in organizing the UCL Leaders conference, where I was responsible for the Science and Technology panel. I learned a lot about organizing large-scale events, communicating with potential speakers and finding topics of interest for the participants.

I enjoyed the initiatives undertaken by this year’s committee, and next year I want to continue the lecture series, expanding it by creating more interactive workshop opportunities.

Moreover, I want to organize shadowing opportunities within the neuro-departments, to enable the students to experience these specialities firsthand.

I want to chair a committee where everyone will be able to find a place for themselves, to either prepare for their future careers in neurology or neurosurgery, expand their knowledge of the field or just try out something new.

I’m excited to start my work with you soon! See you at society events;)

As aspiring surgeons, we both have a great interest in the field of Neurosurgery. Attending the ‘Journey through the Encephalon’ talks has furthered this interest as we gained an appreciation of intricacies and challenges of the specialty. So, as co-chairs we aim to continue encouraging students to learn more about Neurosurgery and its multifaceted nature. 

Primarily, we hope to hold a Conference to offer opportunities for students to interact with Neurosurgery in a variety of ways. For example, having workshops delivered by surgeons would be an exciting way to get more insight into the practical aspects of the career. This would be complemented with talks ranging from research to CST applications to give attendees a more informed idea of the academic side of Neurosurgery. Additionally, we hope to encourage discussions between attendees and surgeons, whether that be through Speed Mentoring or networking events during the conference.

Throughout the year we would like to carry out tutorials, some aimed at specific years and some open to all years, to consolidate learning and refresh knowledge. We are also keen to run enrichment sessions in collaboration with other societies such as neurology or neuroscience to broaden appreciation and knowledge of the brain through a neurosurgical viewpoint. With these events we hope that students of all years and degrees can come together to learn with each other and have conversations over a shared interest.