The Medical Society was delighted to host Mr Simon St Clair Carter OE, Medical Director of the London Clinic and the President of the Urology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. Mr Carter started by talking about medical school and the essential characteristics one has to show when applying to be a doctor, including honesty, introspection and candor. Mr Carter then went on to discuss the incredible technological advances that have been made in medical treatment in recent years. One example was surgery using robots, which is not only changing medicine itself, but the entire way it is taught. Mr Carter continued to encourage the audience that no matter what type of personality you had you would find a niche for yourself in a medical career, arguing that from being an entrepreneur to working in the legal field it seems that there are endless ways one can use a medical degree.
It was also made clear that when working as a doctor it is important to find some way to combine work and leisure. Mr Carter told us of his recent expedition to Mount Everest where he was studying the correlation between those who were more prone to suffer hypoxia (lack of oxygen) at high altitudes and the presence of a certain gene coding for lower tissue density. Having this gene makes individuals less likely to cope with high altitude. Understanding the causes of hypoxia could then help doctors treat patients in an ICU where 90% of patients suffer from an oxygen shortage. In doing this he worked in the highest laboratory ever recorded, also known as ‘The Lab on Top of the World’.
Mr Carter finished his talk by advising us on how to get into medical school, telling us all: “Basically, folks, it’s not that hard to get in." He also predicted which fields of medicine might boom due to technological advances. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and surprising talk.
