What made you want to be a surgeon?
What got me interested in medicine in the first place was anatomy, so when I started medical school, the most direct way to deal with anatomy was surgery. That was the initial driver towards surgery as a practice.
General and abdominal surgery as a speciality is challenging and has a broad range of procedures, treating complex diseases such as cancer or obesity can be incredibly rewarding.
Cancer surgery means for my patients that have life-threatening problems, you can help and do something for them. With weight loss surgery, you really turn people’s lives around, and when they do well are very happy with how they feel in their new life.
What does your typical day look like at the hospital?
Often start my day at 6 or 7am to see the patients who were operated on the previous day: checking that they are doing well, if they are ready for discharge, or how their treatment is progressing.
Then I will either go to surgery (if that’s what I’m doing that morning), at 8 or 9 am, or alternatively go to the rooms to see new patients at 9 and do that for the morning. Then the afternoon is the same or the opposite. Sometimes I operate in the morning, consult in the afternoon or vice versa.
On Thursdays & Fridays, I am in the public hospital all day (see patients in the morning and operate in the afternoon). In addition to surgery and consulting, there are research meetings, unit meetings, and MDT (multidisciplinary team) meetings (and I’m probably forgetting a few) all in amongst that.
Why do you think weight loss surgery is important?
By the time patients have a BMI in the 30 – 35 range the chances of success with traditional diet and exercise are really diminishing, and they often need help at these higher BMI levels to get back to a healthy life; that’s where weight loss surgery comes in. Generally, patients seek help when they are aged in their 30’s, 40’s or 50’s, so they should have a lot of good years ahead of them, and therefore weight loss has a big impact for a long time. Weight loss surgery can improve the quality of life for many years to come.
You’re trained to use the Da Vinci Robot – what’s that like to use instead of traditional surgical methods?
I think the key thing about why it’s so good is that it really is revolutionary in terms of what we do and how. It’s not “slightly better”, it’s a whole other level of improvement from standard keyhole surgery. It’s computer-assisted surgery; it’s enhancing my movements, making them more precise, and more controlled, with other key benefits being magnified and 3D vision that is far more stable as the camera is held by the robot and remains perfectly still until I move it, in comparison to a human assistant holding the camera in traditional keyhole surgery. I have complete control over 4 arms, instead of my usual ‘human’ two arms.
The instruments actually have greater dexterity than the human hand. In robotic surgery you are operating with your fingers, using that fine manipulation to control the movement of the instruments rather than the gross motor of the bigger muscles when holding standard keyhole instruments sometimes at awkward angles or with outstretched arms. It’s not a minor improvement, it really is revolutionary in the true sense of the word. Its the first time there has been a computer enhancing the surgeons ability. Here’s a simple analogy – it’s not just the difference between a road car and a sports car, it’s the difference between a horse and cart and a formula 1 car!
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I consider myself mid-career, so I still think I’ll be doing the same thing in 10 years. I see myself doing more of the same cases, but with more surgery being performed robotically. I hope to be able to widely offer the benefits of weight loss surgery to the broader community. 10 years ago I started out to build a practice, now I have the practice, I want to expand it to offer more patients the benefits and ultimately keep helping patients which is at the core of every doctors mandate. I’ve done my training, been overseas to learn from surgeons in the UK and the USA, established myself, and settled, now it’s time to do what I do best.
When you’re not being a surgeon what do you like to do?
I have young kids, so being a family man is a big part of my personal life. I like to try and keep fit, but I’m struggling to continue to do that as I’m getting older! But I am a big believer that now’s the time to keep fit because it’s easy to be fit when you’re in your 20s, less easy in your 30s… so in your 40s its something you have to hold onto it while you can as its very hard mid-50s. I’m a runner and a swimmer and I want to keep doing those things for as long as I possibly can.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
I do like the movies. I could watch them all day every day, its an easy way to spend a few hours, but I don’t get to the cinema as often as I would like to anymore. I am in the military so I do enjoy a military movie (Top Gun Maverick was a recent standout).. I also always enjoy a good comedy, life can get so serious it’s always good to have a laugh!