What year did you graduate?
1990
What course did you study?
Medicine
What is your current role?
Private equity, real-estate and venture capital investor
How did you get into your current role?
After 2 years of SHO jobs I decided to pursue an MBA (at Yale, USA) to better understand how management was impacting the NHS. I fully expected to return to clinical medicine. After my degree I ended up working in strategic consulting (at McKinsey & Co), then ran two web businesses (in Los Angeles), which led me to venture capital. I then moved to Dubai to raise funds but ended up in private equity and real-estate investments, running a fund for the government of Dubai. In 2016 I set up on my own.
Can you describe a typical day?
Meeting executives from companies looking for investments and discussing their company’s past performance, future growth, etc. Analysts prepare financial models and we evaluate merits and risks of new assets, as well as monitor assets we have already invested in. We also often meet investors to encourage them to invest with us in our platform.
What do you enjoy about your role?
It brings together the range of skills learned in business and even some learnings from my medical days, especially tight-knit teamwork and working under pressure.
What do you find challenging in your current role?
Often I am asked whether investing even comes close to the more fulfilling career of clinical medicine. While I enjoyed my clinical student days and life as a junior doctor, creating jobs, growth of companies, and ultimately creating tangible financial value across a variety of industries and sectors has its own charms, and is intellectually fulfilling.
What advice would you give to a current student at St George’s who is keen to get in to a similar area of work as you?
Students shouldn’t see a career change as a way to escape medicine but instead if they believe that clinical medicine is not for them then they should not be scared to explore other careers which are completely different from their initial education and experience.
Which aspects of your degree are relevant for your current role?
An additional qualification is definitely needed but it does not need to be a full-time MBA (as I did). It can be a part time MBA, or online courses, as well as other finance qualifications (such as CFA or CPA) which can be done while working. MBBS itself may not be relevant but the rigour of studying and coping with volumes of new material does help to study new things.
What would you say were the best / most challenging things about your degree?
I found the rote-learning aspect of medicine difficult as it doesn’t suit my learning style. But I loved clinical medicine and the deductive reasoning and interaction with the patients.
Do you have any advice or a message for current students at St George’s?
Medicine is an amazing profession and while the 5 years (or 6 for some) appears tough, almost all make it to the end. But if after a while, you decide that it might not be for you, there are many non-medical avenues to pursue. I may have chosen a rather unorthodox path but it shows that it’s doable.
Do you have any advice or a message for students considering studying at St George’s?
As made famous by the book “The House of God”, I am proud to say that I went to the best medical school in the world! Nothing else to say.