Last Wednesday evening, Cleveland Clinic London hosted the RGS Professionals, students, teachers and parents for a fascinating insight into the first, fully digital hospital in the UK. We were delighted that so may Sixth Form students were able to make the event and it was fantastic to have so many professionals in the room, in the field of medicine and pharmacy, to chat through their experiences with the students.

Foundation Director, Jonny Hylton, opened the event by highlighting the breadth of representation from all sectors of our Reigatian community, before passing the floor to current parent, Francine De Stoppelaar, Chief Pharmacist at the Cleveland Clinic London.

Francine started the presentation with the story of how Cleveland Clinic London came to be – visionary in its technological advancement, a feat of architectural engineering and the embodiment of putting people at the heart of what they do. Cleveland Clinic London is a physician-led organisation, where every employee is considered a caregiver – not only to their patients, but to each other.  It has been five years in development with the hospital being operational for one year and it is clear that the Cleveland Clinic is setting the bar very high for the future of hospitals in the UK.

Francine then introduced, Interim Chief of Staff, Dr Jamanda Haddock, who spoke about the breadth of careers open to doctors and how they might transfer from clinical focus to management over time. Jamanda also spoke about how to accommodate other life goals, whilst pursuing a career in medicine, not least parenthood. Later in the evening, this is a topic that other doctors in the room discussed at length with the students, emphasising that they should forge the path in medicine that interests them and not to be distracted by other life pursuits before they need to consider them.

We then had the pleasure of hearing from orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Howard Ware. Howard spoke about his slightly unconventional route into medicine and emphasised the importance of resilience and passion for medicine as being the key drivers to success – a lesson that is true for all fields of endeavour. Howard spoke at length to the groups of students eager to find out more. With advice built on years of experience, Howard was as keen to share his wealth of knowledge as much as we were to hear it.

Our newly appointed Chair of the RGS Professionals group, Matt Lowe, then spoke enthusiastically about the role that the RSG Professionals group plays in building valuable connections between people, as happened during this event. Matt also shared his excitement about what the future holds for the RGS Professionals group, as we plan how to extend our reach and levels of participation across the Reigatian community for maximum impact.

This professional event was truly invaluable to students considering a career in medicine or pharmacy and it was great to see the enthusiasm from the students, who threw themselves into conversations, able to ask any question they wanted, knowing they would get an informed and honest answer.  We were also joined by parents, teachers and professionals in differing fields of expertise, which always brings a unique perspective to our Professionals events and we are all the richer for their input too.  Following the event, it was heartening to hear from the students that they found the evening, enjoyable, interesting, inspiring, informative and that it helped to crystallise their own views in what they wanted for their future careers.

Our thanks to Francine, Jamanda and Howard and their colleagues who hosted us at the outstanding Cleveland Clinic London. As ever, this event, like other professional events before, saw connections being forged between members across the Reigatian community, making the evening fun and worthwhile in equal measure. We are also so grateful to everyone who attended this fantastic event and look forward to welcoming you to another Foundation event soon.

More photos of the Cleveland Clinic London event can be found here Cleveland Clinic London Gallery.

If you are not already a member of our RGS Professionals Group but would like to be, please join our RGS Professionals Group on Linked In – we would love to have you on board!