Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 415/416/417

Oct 20, 21 & 22

1) I've been to a couple of events in the past few days. First off was "Career Clues Night", an event organised by the RCSI Paediatrics Society. Four speakers were invited to share their experience and career pathways. We had a General Practitioner, PhD Scholar, and Lecturer (Dr. Mark Murphy), a Professor of Pathology/Consultant Histopathologist (Prof. Mary Leader), a Consultant Neonatologist (Prof. Martin White), and a Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon (Mr. John Burke). Overall, it was a thoroughly interesting talk, where we gained an insight into the pros and cons of each career, as well as the motivation behind considering each one. I also got a chance to take a photo with Dr. Murphy, who, if you're an RCSI student, will be all too familiar. After all, he appears in all of our OSCE tutorial videos; demonstrating proper technique as he goes through the examinable material for the each module.

2) The next event was "A Special Guest Lecture - Dr. Christian Gilchrist". Dr. Gilchrist is currently Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, New York, where he also initiated the Breast Care Centre in 2014. Prior to that Dr. Gilchrist served as both Attending Surgeon and Chief at the Tufts Floating Hospital for Children, and earlier in his career as a Military Surgeon in Operation Desert Storm. It was with passion and gusto that he recounted the many challenges he faced working in (to put it mildly) less than safe working conditions, including the tragic Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Attack, where a former physician stormed the hospital and opened fire in that building, killing a doctor on the 17th floor and wounding six people on the 16th floor.

3) Subsequently, I've been to the Expo Stage, where RCSI Envirosoc had an event in promoting environmental awareness. Clean Coasts (a programme operated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce) was also present to talk about their projects, and there were lots of freebies and goodies. Besides, we had our first full Exco Meeting for the newly established RCSI Model United Nations Club (RCSIMUNC). Not giving anything away, but we have some really cool (over the top) ideas coming your way, so stay tuned! Fast forward to today - I went for my weekly kickboxing practice. Turnout was particularly poor due to Reading Week (everyone had booked their tickets away from here). And the rest of my day has been spent revising (I'm so far behind haha), chatting with my parents, and just idling about. It's been a packed couple of days, and looking forward to the next couple of events. That's been my blog update, and hopefully you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks very much for tuning in, and have a great week (and to my friends on Reading Week - safe journey!) :D