OUM Faculty Profile: A/Prof. Ali Ghahreman

A/Prof. Ali Ghahreman

Neurosurgeon, NSW

What would you like the students to know about yourself?

I was born in a worn torn country, Iran, in March 1973. I did my schooling in Iran and, at the age of 14, I had to leave Iran as the war-torn region demanded younger and younger blood. So, my parents sent me to Germany. At the time, Germany was the only country in the world that did not require a visa for males under 15-years old. I stayed in awkward places in Germany, and I learned to stand on my own two feet. These were difficult times, I was separated from my loving family, and I had to quickly learn another language, but it helped me see the realities of the world much earlier than my peers. My parents and I later migrated to New Zealand, and I had to learn English so that I would be accepted by a local university. Even with this challenge, I managed to be awarded the Dux of the university and entered medicine directly. So apart from life experience, I have not had another career outside of medicine (The Dux is like the Valedictorian in other educational systems, the highest academic award).

What is something that the student body doesn’t know about you?

I love visual arts and music. I also play the Tar, a traditional Persian musical instrument.

What do you love about working in Medicine?

I like the expansive range of possibilities that medicine offers. It is not just one career pathway. You are also helping patients, families, and change communities by your decisions, knowledge, and skills. Even in my own specialty, neurosurgery, which some consider as a narrow field, I find that my daily experiences are diverse. I may start my day talking to a 50-year-old man about how his life has changed as the result of a traumatic back injury, and then comfort a family devasted by their child being diagnosed with a fatal brain tumour.

After which I provide them with realistic outcomes associated with potential surgical procedures. Then my day could lead me to perform an ulnar nerve transposition in the operating room, remove another brain tumour, and then back to the spine. So, the anatomical diversity of my work is captivating I love anatomy, and I love to ask OUM students about anatomy when they are in my office. As a neurosurgeon, I operate on every part of the body for peripheral nerves, the spine and the brain, so I have a very personal relationship with anatomy. I love sketching anatomical pictures for my students to help them understand the surgery. Finally, we have such a great set of technological adjuvants that we use in medicine and surgery, which are really fun to work with.

We know that you work with The St George Institute of Neuroscience (SGIN). Could you tell us about your role within the institute and how it benefits spinal neurosurgery?

The institute analyses the outcome of my surgeries and the different operations that I perform. We are always trying to improve ourselves and one way to do this is to perform audits and research SGIN is aiming to set a platform of excellence in spinal research. We have dedicated nurses and scientists who use raw clinical data, and quality of life assessment forms, such as pain scores, SF-36 and many other assessment tools, to evaluate the results of different kinds of techniques in treatment of surgical patients with spinal problems. Data collection, both before and after surgery for publication of prospective studies, is a large part of our work.

Will SGIN be supporting OUM students with research in the future?

Yes, it would be an absolute pleasure to do this.

How did you find out about OUM?

One of my colleagues needed to organise a surgical rotation for an OUM student. I had been teaching at The University of New South Wales (NSW) for many years, but the OUM philosophy was different and allowed faculty to teach using a more modern platform. This attracted me to the university, and I was excited to be involved with this new way of educating.

Do you notice any differences between students at OUM and those at traditional medical schools?

OUM students tend to be a lot more diverse in their knowledge base and clinical experience. Whereas UNSW students are very uniform, they all have a very similar knowledge base and skill level. The normal distribution curve is much wider with OUM students, and as such, I encourage the students to consolidate their knowledge. But on the whole the average is the same between the universities

How do you feel about the direction that OUM is heading?

Every year, the intake is better, and the output is better My observation over the past 3 years is one of progress and growth

What are you, and the other clinical placement facilitators, hoping to achieve at OUM?

I want to standardise teaching. I want to have only highly qualified clinicians teaching the students. I have secured 90% of rotations. I would like to see consistent teachers educating all OUM students, rather than students being able to arrange their own rotations based on their relationships and connections This will make assessment fair, because unless the same teacher takes on the same university’s students every time, they will not have a reference for comparison for fair grading and student feedback.

What are your aspirations for OUM in the future?

I hope to improve the intensity of undergraduate training. That way, when you arrive at your clinical rotations you can answer all my anatomy questions.

What advice would you give to someone at OUM considering surgery as a specialty?

I recommend surgery as it is a very fulfilling career. However, the training is very intensive and sometimes getting accepted on the training program takes many years. This specialty takes a lot of dedication. You will be defined as a surgeon, and surgery will be the primary part of your identity.

What piece of advice would you give to the students reading this interview?

Firstly, do not underestimate yourselves. You compare favourably with students from traditional medical schools. Secondly, be understanding and respectful in the clinical environment. Lastly, do not underestimate the importance of basic clinical sciences, such as anatomy, physiology, and pathology. Memorise your books back to front and front to back so that you can apply that knowledge in the clinical environment.

Do not underestimate yourselves!