Faces of Medicine 2019
Warwick Medical School
Tomorrow’s doctors come from every walk of life, bringing a huge range of knowledge, capabilities and values with them. As a graduate-entry medical student at Warwick Medical School, I’m surrounded by so many inspiring individuals with degrees from art history to neuroscience. Some swim for England while others served on army tours abroad. And we’re all here together.
Faces of Medicine is a photography series created to showcase the variety of people and backgrounds that make up graduate-entry medicine at Warwick University, which accepts applicants with any degree qualification. I plan to photograph them each year to see how their portraits and feelings about medicine change over time. In four years or fewer, all these faces could be doctors within the NHS - and I’m curious about their journeys alongside mine.
For Faces of Medicine, I wanted to know…
What their degrees were in (to understand their expertise coming in)
What their proudest achievement was (to get a taste of their background & interests)
What medical specialty interests them now (to see how or if their interests change over time)
What they see the biggest challenge over the next year will be (to find out how they overcome it)
The First Years
Blair
What are your degrees in?
BSc Applied Sports Science
MSc Trauma Sciences
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Combat tours to both Iraq and Afghanistan with the British Army
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Anaesthetics and Emergency Medicine
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Passing first year
Laura
What are your degrees in?
Applied Psychology
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Achieved a B in Chemistry A-Level in 9 months whilst working full-time
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Emergency
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Understanding physiology well enough to pass exams at the end of the year
Andrea
What are your degrees in?
Natural Sciences Msci
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Completing my year abroad in Austin Texas during my undergrad - dealing with challenges and making the most of opportunities.
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Obs & gynae
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Passing first year exams
Albie
What are your degrees in?
Biomedical Science
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Hard to say, but winning a national mixed hockey competition was definitely a highlight!
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Oncology or paediatrics
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Keeping up with the constant barrage of work!
Arpita
What are your degrees in?
BSc Biochemistry (University of Manchester)
MSc Molecular Medicine (University of Reading)
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
I was working in the field of medical communications, for a company called AMICULUM. We acted as a 'consultancy' firm for pharmaceutical companies and helped them with drug releases and promotional events. Our work was helping a lot of cancer patients get more personalised treatments.
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Paediatrics
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
The biggest challenge over the next year will definitely be about learning a lot of scientific and clinical content in a short space of time!
Charlotte
What are your degrees in?
BSc Biology (Joint Honours Human and Environmental Biology)
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
I was highly commended by Brighton SU in their Excellence awards for Contraception and Sexual Health Volunteer of the Year 2015.
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Not 100% sure, but I find myself drawn towards Pre-Hospital, Emergency Medicine and Trauma surgery
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Taking advantage of all the fantastic extracurricular opportunities Warwick Medical Society has to offer, and the chance to develop my portfolio, alongside an already demanding and intense course.
Beth
What are your degrees in?
BSc Biochemistry
MRes Biomedical Science
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Probably running a half marathon because physical activity is certainly not my strong point!
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
I have no idea! Maybe GP but I don't really know yet.
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Trying to find enough hours in the day to manage everything and maybe still get some sleep!
Shakeel
What are your degrees in?
Medical Science (BMedSc), Biomedical Sciences Research (MSc)
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Winning 3 Pokemon Go tournaments in Birmingham
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Cardiology
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Keeping up with the workload while still having a life outside med school
Alice
What are your degrees in?
Sport and Exercise Science
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Getting a first in my undergraduate degree
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
GP
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Managing my time- dedicating enough time to the course whilst still maintaining a life outside of medicine
Matt
What are your degrees in?
Bsc Hons Biomedical Science
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Achieving a first at university after a less than ideal attempt at a-levels...
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Accident and Emergency
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Balancing study with having a personal life
Divya
What are your degrees in?
Chemistry
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
There are so many things I’m proud of in the traditional sense of an “achievement”, but honestly what I’m most proud of is how those things brought me to a point where I realised that I wanted to go to medical school, and that I was more than capable of doing it. Believing in myself is the proudest thing I’ve done.
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Plastic Surgery
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Keeping up with the work load, and fighting imposter syndrome
Corie
What are your degrees in?
Psychology
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
My two children
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Emergency
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Work life balance with a family
Jasmine
What are your degrees in?
Neuroscience BSc, Clinical Neurology MSc
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Graduating from my masters
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Psychiatry, Neurology
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Getting through my first year of medical school
Katherine
What are your degrees in?
Pharmacy
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Qualifying as a Pharmacist
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Emergency medicine
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Passing anatomy!
The Second Years
I originally planned to start this project last year, featuring students alongside me at the start of my first year. Unfortunately the nature of a four-year accelerated medicine course means that the first year of pre-clinical learning is particularly intense, with the first few weeks especially busy. But it’s the very beginning I’m interested in capturing, so I can contrast it with the following years. It all fell into place this year and I was even able to feature some now-second-years’ whom I have spent the last year learning, suffering and celebrating alongside.
Sam
What are your degrees in?
Operating Department Practice - Anaesthesia and Critical Care
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Being for Britains World Cup Downhill mountainbiking team whilst a Junior. That and being married!
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Dual role - Anaesthesia / PHEM
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Actually balancing my a work-life balance, which was way out in the first year of medicine
Abbie
What are your degrees in?
Neuroscience
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Surviving 6th Form !
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Neurosurgery, NICU, Interventional Radiology
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Shifting from pre-clinical to clinical teaching.
Megan
What are your degrees in?
Biomedical Sciences
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Achieving a first class degree
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
PHEM (pre-hospital emergency medicine) and ED (emergency dept.)
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
The relentless pace of second year and few breaks
Nikos
What are your degrees in?
Natural Sciences (BA)
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
My strong sense of self and the incomparable bond I’ve forged with my siblings.
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
I honestly don’t know. Choosing paths in life has always been a challenge for me, hence the reason I’m almost 25 and still at the front end of my medical degree. There’s a bunch of specialties which I think could fit my personality, each for different reasons, but I hope that the rotations I’ll start in CCE1 will
provide some practical experience to lay the foundation for this decision.
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
Adjusting to learning at the bedside, having to become almost entirely independent in my learning and developing the skills to cope with the emotional burden of working week in week out in a clinical environment.
Louise
What are your degrees in?
Pharmacy
What was your proudest achievement before attending medical school?
Recording an album with my Riot Jazz band
What medical specialty interests you most as a career, right now?
Gastroenterology
What do you see being the biggest challenge over the next year?
The more self directed learning of second year