By Karen Stephanou, Careers Office Administrator

The Careers Office had a busy season during Fall 2017 organising six presentations. The first two presentations were held under the series ‘A Career in…’.  This series is an opportunity for students to learn about career prospects and current developments in specific specialties.  It is presented by eminent local and international medical professors and physicians.  The latter four presentations consisted of practical information sessions.  Evagoras Nicolaides, Professor of Postgraduate Medicine and Academic Lead for Careers, was instrumental in advising the Careers Office throughout the term.

‘A Career in Surgery’ was held in September 2017.  The presentation was facilitated by Professor Panos Economou, Chair of the Department of Surgery, and featured Paris Tekkis, Professor of Colorectal Surgery and Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London and Honorary Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at St Mark’s Hospital, London. Professor Tekkis shared his experiences and knowledge about achieving a career in General Surgery.

In October 2017, Dr Alexander Kroushovski, Clinical Assistant Professor & Clinical Skills Lead, presented “A Career in Orthopaedics” facilitated by Professor Nicolaides.  Students learned about the training Dr Kroushovski had undertaken from medical school onwards and what it is like to be an Orthopaedic and Trauma surgeon.  A pre-taped interview was also shown featuring a discussion with Dr Constantinos Ketonis, Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics at the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Rochester in New York.  Dr Ketonis shared his experiences of what it is like to go through the US match process.  Furthermore, Dr Ketonis talked about his current research activity as well as what it is like to practise in the field of Orthopaedics in the US.

The first practical information session held during the Fall term was a Q & A session entitled “Applying to the UK Foundation Programme”.   Dr Sadek Malas, a 2017 MBBS graduate and FY1 doctor at Charing Cross Hospital, London, provided the students with practical information on going through the UKFPO application process and what it is like to be an FY1, particularly ‘a day in the life of an FY1’.

The second information session was entitled “The differences between postgraduate training in the UK vs. the US.”  Dr Ben Patterson, USMLE Discipline Lead for Pathology and MD Course Lead for Clinical Pathophysiology, shared his experiences of undertaking postgraduate training in both the UK and the US.

For the third information session, Dr Muhieddine Itani, a 2017 MBBS graduate and research fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, presented a Q & A session entitled “Postgraduate research in the US”. He shared his experiences and informed students about how he had achieved a research post in the US.  All three of the above-mentioned information sessions were facilitated by Professor Evagoras Nicolaides.

The final information session for the Fall term was facilitated by Professor Panos Economou and was entitled “How to get your residency post in the U.S”.  Dr H. Clark Federer,  Lead General Surgeon at Swedish Covenant Hospital, in Chicago provided students with information about achieving a residency post in the US and what to expect during their residency.