“WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR HOW WELL WE WERE TAUGHT; WE ENDEAVOUR TO PRACTICE WITH THE SAME DISCIPLINED APPROACH THAT WAS DEEPLY ENGRAINED IN US BY OUR RCSI PROFESSORS MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO. WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT, WE WOULDN’T CHANGE A SINGLE THING. WE WOULD DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, ESPECIALLY OUR LIFE AT RCSI.” Professor Karen Choong (Class of 1991)
14 Years
14 YEARS OUT
DR LEENA RAHMAT
Class of 2008 Instructor of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA After completing an internship with Mr Moran and Mr Osborne and Drs Grogan and Breathnach and a six-month SHO rotation with Professor Hill at Beaumont Hospital from 2008-2010, it was time to relocate close to family in the US. I am currently an assistant professor in hematology and oncology at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. I work at their two sites, in Washington DC and Maryland. I am currently working as a clinician with an interest in translational research. I focus on hematologic malignancies and benign hematology. A typical week is pretty high-tempo: a daily morning latte is followed by rounds in the hospital, then an afternoon clinic. In order to keep myself mentally and physically balanced and healthy, I usually pop into an evening Pilates class or go for an evening run a few times a week. Key challenges of the last decade? The key challenges include trying to maintain a healthy work/life balance. The socio-economic barriers faced by physicians to provide optimal care to under-served regions, and navigating bureaucratic healthcare systems are challenging and I can’t talk about challenges without mentioning the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented tremendous challenges involving patient care. Witnessing the emotional and social isolation that the pandemic forced upon patients and families was heavy. What’s next? Professionally, I have a few lymphoma-focused clinical trials in the pipeline. Personally, I am looking forward to getting back to my favorite hobby, equestrianism.
22
30 Years
30 YEARS OUT
PROFESSOR KAREN CHOONG
Class of 1991 Pediatric Intensivist, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
As a clinician-scientist my week is split between research and clinical responsibilities. My clinical work is as a pediatric intensivist in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the McMaster Children’s Hospital, a tertiary care academic hospital. A typical clinical service week involves the care of critically ill children with a broad range of medicalsurgical conditions, managing pediatric trauma, and running a pediatric ICU transport team service for our provincial region. These weeks are busy with a heavy call burden of sleepless nights. My research is focused on ICU-based rehabilitation and patient-centred outcomes. We pioneered PICU Liber8, an innovative, evidence-based rehabilitation bundle of care designed to reduce morbidity and improve functional outcomes in critically ill children. I currently lead multiple research projects including studies evaluating longterm outcomes following COVID-19, chronic critical illness, PICU delirium, septic shock interventions. I love the diversity of cases, the team dynamic and the excitement of the PICU. One must not only have expertise in critical care, but also in difficult conversations, end-of-life care and bioethics. I love practicing in the ICU despite and perhaps because of the demands of this subspecialty; it is high acuity and high reward and despite the workload and sleep deprivation, I wouldn’t do anything different. Best decision you made? Perry [Dr Mayer, see page 21] and I first wrote our responses independently and when we read them together we realised that we had essentially written about the same things so I thought I’d share our combined response: The best decision we both made was to go to Ireland for our education. The medical training we received at RCSI was second to none and moulded us into the clinicians that we are today. We are grateful for how well we were taught; we have the highest respect for the art of presentation and emphasis on clinical acumen, and we endeavour to practice with the same disciplined approach that was deeply engrained in us by our RCSI professors more than 30 years ago. Attending RCSI allowed us to find love – for each other, for Rice’s, for the beer-stained ceiling of The Swan, and Sean’s concern that we had no homes to go to, for intervarsities, for class trips, for Alan Johnson, and for the treasured friendships made that remain strong till this day. What advice would you give your younger self? This is the advice we give to our own kids: work hard, play hard. Believe in yourself as you can achieve anything you set your mind to. Make time and protect your time. Enjoy life, do the things you love with the people that you love, and look after yourself. I would advise Perry’s younger (and current) self to learn how to cook, so he can feed his wife on her long weeks on service. Perry would advise his younger self to invest in land. We work hard and are proud of our achievements. We are eager to share what we’ve learned with others. With the benefit of hindsight, we wouldn’t change a single thing. We would do it all over again, especially our life at RCSI. ■
