• Question: Did you ever want to become a surgeon

    Asked by anon-284805 to Jo on 4 Mar 2021.
    • Photo: Jo Brodie

      Jo Brodie answered on 4 Mar 2021:

      Hi GeorgeS, thank you for your question
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      I do like the *idea* of being a surgeon and saving lives but because I’m a bit squeamish I probably wouldn’t be very good at it, so I’ve not really considered it as a possibility. Quite a lot of my studies and work have been quite linked to medicine more generally though (some topics in biology are very closely related – in fact, for my first two years studying biology at university we took quite a few of our classes with the medical students as we were learning the same things (biochemistry, physiology)).
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      A big part of one of my previous jobs, at Diabetes UK, was supporting surgeons and doctors who were investigating how a type of surgery could help a particular group of people with Type 1 diabetes. I was never involved in the surgery or treatment directly but instead I helped them by answering all the questions from potential patients (and their doctors) who were interested in trying it. A very specific type of scientific ‘customer service’ I suppose 🙂
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      A few years ago I had some minor surgery myself, with an overnight stay in my local hospital. I enjoyed chatting to the surgeon about the procedure and how long it might take to recover, and to the anaesthetist about the anaesthetic drugs they’d give me and how they’d keep me safe. I also met the surgeon who’d operated on my dad and afterwards shook his hand then thought “gosh, those hands saved my dad’s life!”.
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      Jo

Comments

  • Photo: Chris

    Chris commented on :

    I’m fascinated by medicine – we can do all sorts of amazing operations and cure diseases that no-one thought we ever would be able to – but I’m too squeamish to actually be one 🙁 It takes years of training to become a doctor or a surgeon, so you have to really have to want to do it. I have huge respect for the commitment these people have to saving people’s lives.

  • Photo: Mohan

    Mohan commented on :

    I think every scientific discipline is important. Although I currently spend a lot of my time working on computers (and trying to make robots smarter), I did not have the opportunity to study any computer science in school. I only had proper access to a computer in the second year of my undergraduate/college studies. In school, I was interested in Chemistry and Biology (along with Mathematics and Physics) because I wanted to know more about the fascinating capabilities of humans and animals. If I had not been more interested in making smarter machines, I may very well have pursued a career in medicine!

  • Photo: Anna

    Anna commented on :

    I also like the idea but am way too squeamish! It is very interesting but also really hard work.
    Weirdly, my brother is an orthopaedic surgeon (fixing bones) and I ended up working with bones as well – though the ones I study are usually fossils!