Published: 17 September 2021
On Thursday 9 September, the Development and Alumni Relations team held its second event in its ‘Alumni Perspectives’ series, which showcases some of the incredible stories of our alumni, celebrates their achievements and gives our community the chance to hear more about their experiences. Catch up on this event now to watch Third Year Graduate Entry Medicine student, Josie Price, in conversation with Graduate Entry Medicine alumna, Captain Bryony Hastings, and MBBS alumnus, Professor Mike Grocott.
Watch the recording
Medicine alumnus, Professor Mike Grocott, is a Professor of Anaesthesia and Xtreme Everest Oxygen Research Consortium Leader, graduated from St George's in 1992. He is co-founder of the UCL Centre for Altitude Space and Extreme Environment Medicine (CASE) and Xtreme Everest Oxygen Research Consortium Leader. He has led a number of expeditions, including to Cho Oyu (the sixth highest mountain in the world), to help prepare for his work on Everest in 2007 as leader of the Caudwell Xtreme Everest research Team.
Sharing advice with students interested in following a similar career path, Professor Grocott said:
You’ve got to love what you do. At St George’s, I’d enjoyed Acute Medicine so much that I decided I wanted to work in Intensive Care, and I went down the Anaesthetic route to do that. You’ve got to do something you love, and when you go to meet the department you’re going to work in, look at the team and the dynamics between them. Your team is such an important part of having a happy and successful career.
Speaking about some of the most rewarding aspects of his role as Xtreme Everest Consortium Leader and co-founder of the CASE, he went on to say:
It’s all about the people. The most special moments come from the people around you. The most rewarding thing is looking back on a project and knowing you'll most likely never experience anything like it again, which is working really closely with a group of people who’ve worked towards a shared goal.
Captain Bryony Hastings of the Royal Army Medical Corps completed her first degree in Physics at Oxford before joining the St George’s Graduate Entry Medicine course in 2012. She began her military career after being awarded a medical cadetship from the Army during the first year of her course. Captain Hastings’ first deployment as a General Duties Medical Officer (GDMO) for 4 Medical Regiment was to Bardufoss, Norway (located 300 miles inside the Arctic Circle). She will now be based in Winchester for the next six years while she completes Psychiatry training, and continues to be deployed as needed as a military doctor.
Reflecting on her time as a student on the Graduate Entry Medicine programme, Captain Bryony Hastings said,
“I’ve worked with a lot of Military Healthcare Support Officers and Military Nurses, and I’m constantly encouraging them to think about studying Graduate Entry Medicine. The teachers and lecturers on the programme were really inspiring and everyone on my programme really bonded over that shared ambition to become a doctor. Now that I’ve started Psychiatry training, I can see that I have a wider breadth of experience that I can draw on in my work because of my time on the course – which I think is an advantage, and probably helps my patients as well.”
We were delighted to welcome some of our alumni, students and staff from the Graduate Entry Medicine programme to this event as we celebrate 21 years of Graduate Entry Medicine - including Medicine course director, Professor Hannah Cock. Professor Cock said:
“I think the stories we’ve heard today illustrate beautifully how our Medicine programmes support people with a breadth of experience to flourish and progress. This is great inspiration for our current students and aspirational students to hear and see people who’ve been where they are now, especially such shining examples of their future journeys. As a course lead, it is also enormously rewarding to see some of the important contributions to society our alumni go on to make and to have been a part of that journey.
Josie added,
I am very grateful to have had the chance to volunteer for this event. I really appreciate being able to play a part in the Graduate Entry Medicine 21st Anniversary celebrations - it reminds me of how lucky I am to be studying a course at St George’s that was the first of its kind in the UK!
To find out more from Professor Grocott or Captain Hastings about their experiences as alumni, get in touch.