Rowan Parks was born into surgery in Belfast, where his father George was a Colorectal Surgeon who became President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Growing up amidst the troubles in Belfast he decided to pursue a medical career and was accepted to his first choice of Queens University Belfast. A pretty standard training pathway followed but took an unexpected turn when he decided to spend a time in the HPB unit at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

He never returned to Belfast and 28 years later he is able to reflect on a career that reached many peaks and culminated in being elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Before the three years he spent representing the College around the world Rowan had become immersed in matters educational and training paradigms in Scotland and beyond.

In fact, he has recently returned to that first love since finishing his tenure as president. Along the way we discuss faith, nepotism, travel and missing talents!

If you prefer to watch rather than listen then don't forget that the entire podcast is available on the #SurgeonsLives channel on Youtube

#surgery #royalcollegeofsurgeons #education #medicalpolitics #HPBsurgery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Parks

https://surgery.ed.ac.uk/staff/profiles/rowan-parks

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowan-parks-2032116/

The latest episode of #Surgeonslives #stuffthatmatters is out now with valentine who talks us through a life journey from Cameroon to Chair! To describe Val Nfonsam as an over achiever would be too easy because he is much more than that. He is currently the Chair of Surgery at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia having moved there from a 2-year stint as Chair of Surgery in LSA, Louisiana.

However, when he was in school in his home country of Cameroon, Central Africa, his main concern was getting to high school and university.

High school and undergraduate studies were in neighboring Nigeria before he landed in Chicago in the winter. Postgraduate study was followed by a decision to go to medical school. He was no sophisticate in that process but due to a combination of hard work, talent and some luck he landed in the University of Illinois.

Residency soon followed before he went to the University of Arizona in Tucson for 11 years. His ambition to lead a Department landed him in LSU for 2 years before his current position.

The LSU experience was challenging and mistakes were made and lessons learnt in what Val describes as part of life's journey. Don't forget that is you prefer to listen rather than watch then the full interview is available on all your favorite podcast audio platforms such as Spotify and Podbean. #surgery #lifelessons #leadership #lifestyle #cameroon #morehousecollege #colorectalsurgery #mistakes https://www.msm.edu/about_us/FacultyD... https://www.msm.edu/Education/surgery...

This is a very special episode of #Surgeonslives #Stuffthatmatters

Matt Albert is one of the best known colorectal surgeons worldwide. A florida boy through and through he truly hit the big time with TAMIS which he co-invented but popularized around the world.

Always moving at maximum speed in everything he does he is a truly accomplished technical surgeon, a gifted teacher and a powerhouse of an intellect. I think he probably qualifies as a polymath being a single-fiber handicap golfer, deep sea fisherman, innovator and inventor was well as being an exceptional surgeon.

However, all of that comes with a cost for any person and Matt is no different in that regard. He has learnt the lessons of stress management over many years and sometimes the hard way.

In this interview, we cover some of those aspects of his life journey, the need for having fun to decompress and the benefits of engaging in therapy - "everyone needs a therapist" as he says.

Pease dont forget to like and subscribe to the channel and send lots of comments.

If you prefer to watch rather than listen then the full interview is available on the Youtube channel https://x.com/TAMISYoda

#tamis #appliedmedical #surgery #stressrelief #stressmanagement #lifestyle #worklifebalance #colorectalsurgery #laparoscopictechniques