News

Operating at the highest level

Published 17 January 2012

A medical student will compete next month in the grand final of a competition to find one of the UK's leading surgeons of the future.

Kishan Moosai, a fourth-year student from Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), has won the Kent, Surrey and Sussex and Wessex heat of a nationwide surgical skills competition run by The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd).

He will now go to the grand final in Edinburgh where he will compete to win a trip to Johnson & Johnson's skills centre in Hamburg, Germany.

The Lister Surgical Skills Competition has been organised by RCSEd in association with Johnson & Johnson Medical Companies to commemorate the life and contribution of Lord Joseph Lister, 'the father of modern surgery'. Over 300 medical students across the UK entered.

The final takes place in Edinburgh on 11 February 2012 as part of celebrations for the 100th anniversary of Lister's death.

At the Kent, Surrey and Sussex and Wessex heat, 19 students from the University of Southampton and Brighton and Sussex Medical School, with an interest in pursuing a career in surgery competed in four surgical skills tests: knot tying, suturing, cyst removal and laparoscopy. On winning the heat, Kishan received a year's student affiliation to RCSEd.

Mr Iain Paterson, RCSEd's Regional Surgical Adviser for the Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Wessex area and a Consultant General Surgeon at Frimley Park Hospital, said: "The level of skill demonstrated by all the students taking part in the heat was extremely high and therefore very encouraging for the future. The two winners were exceptional. Lister would surely have been proud to have his name associated with such a worthwhile exercise and I wish both finalists the very best of luck for the national final in Edinburgh."

Kishan said: "I view my progression in the competition as one of my biggest achievements in my medical career to date. The chance of winning the opportunity to visit the Johnson & Johnson's European Surgical Training centre in Hamburg is a very exciting prospect. As a medical student there are very few opportunities to get experience and training in a speciality such as surgery, especially from a centre as prestigious as the one in Hamburg. Therefore it would truly be an honour to get such a rare opportunity."