SPECIALTY PROFILE
Prof. Paddy Dewan Paediatric Urologist & Surgeon , Australia
What led to you choose a career in Paediatric Urology/General Surgery? I used to run a children’s holiday camp, which enabled me to recognise that I wanted to work with children. I decided upon Paediatric Urology because it had (and has) many unanswered questions, and surgery is both the artful application of science and the scientific application of art. Tell us about your life before medicine? I was born in regional Victoria to a family that ran a bicycle business. After my father died of cancer when I was eight, my mother started a handcraft business, which resulted in me learning to sew! My other childhood “surgical” training came from spending time with a neighbourhood family who ran a farm. It was there that I learnt about anatomy and the necessity for inventive solutions. What do you like to do in your spare time? Dancing as often as I can, often around the house with my wife, writing poetry, and running a small farm; on which we have both cattle and a small vineyard. What do you love most about your job? I love seeing the smile on children's faces when you have made them feel better, and being on the receiving end of the displays of affection when you have helped a family cope with unconquerable disease. Tell us something we don’t know about you? I spent a year of my medical course completing research toward a BMedSc in Psychiatry.
How did you find out about OUM? I was approached by the daughter of a referring GP, and I have had OUM students regularly since. You could work with any medical school in Melbourne, why OUM? OUM has a high standard of students and I connect with the universities ethos. How do you feel about the direction that OUM is heading? There have been major changes that are good for the University, the students and for the quality of medical practice in the near future; further improvements will cement the gains. As a clinical placement facilitator, what are you hoping to achieve at OUM? It is expected that we mentor, and facilitate, students to care for their patients of the future, while having an exciting student experience, free of concerns about finding rotations in which to hone their skills. What are your aspirations for OUM in the future? Through research and commitment, we change the paradigm of medicine from one that is far too “product” driven, to one that is led by common sense. What piece of advice would you give to the students reading this interview? Don’t just treat your patients, care for them.
Aspire to be the best doctor that you have ever met.
