On Monday 28th November, the CLC Medical Society was delighted to welcome back Guild member Dr Laura Kelly (2007) to share her journey through medical school and her career as a paediatric registrar.
Jamie (SFC2 / Year 13) attended the talk and gave the following account:
Beginning with her dilemma of career choices between civil engineering and medicine, Dr Kelly explained how she eventually came to the decision to apply for medicine, as well giving as a piece of advice for us to follow our passion when it comes to choosing A Levels.
It was a wonderful opportunity for us aspiring medics to explore the diversity in medicine. She took us through her life-changing paediatric placement and her exploration of other specialties such as anaesthetics and respiratory medicine. Having chosen paediatrics, she shared more about working with children and young patients, especially their integrity and resilience, which had brought her the greatest fulfilment at work. She also talked about her very supportive and cheerful colleagues in Paediatrics that had confirmed her decision.
Beyond clinical practice, Dr Kelly was able to further her interest in ethics and law during intercalation and even undertook a PhD in the History of Medicine later on. With the aim of helping to shape a better healthcare system, Dr Kelly was an active representative in the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health for junior doctors. She shared her experience during the Junior Doctor Strike back in 2016 and her vision for the NHS in the foreseeable future. Her contributions to the wider healthcare community have inspired us to reflect on the role of a doctor in society and the changes that we can bring about.
Finally, Dr Kelly emphasised personal growth and how she dealt with failures throughout her career. Recognising the challenging nature of medicine, we all learned a life lesson to embrace failures as “it is better to fail sooner rather than later”. Dr Kelly delivered the talk with great enthusiasm for medicine and her job. Her talk has provided very useful insights for those of us who hope to pursue a career in medicine.
On behalf of the PGC and CLC pupils, I would like to extend my thanks Dr Kelly for giving up her time and coming back into College to inspire the next generation of medics.
Dr Skinner, Teacher of Biology, US Adviser, Medical Career Adviser
Cookies
We'd like to set cookies to understand how you use this site. We use services such as YouTube, Flockler and Hireroad that may also use third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our Cookies Policy.
Essential Cookies
We use these for core functionality, such as storing this cookie consent preference. These are loaded automatically and cannot be disabled by the user.
Analytics Cookies
We use Google Analytics to track visits to our website and how users interact with our website. This helps us improve the way our website works.
Personalised Advertising Cookies
We use Google Ads Conversions & Facebook Pixel to measure how you use and interact with our website and with our advertisements.
Our Partners Cookies
These cookies may be set by third party websites and do things like measure how you view videos or other content that is embedded on our site.
