Dr Philippa Mercer - an inspirational leader

Dr Philippa Mercer – an inspirational leader in surgery

Dr Philippa Mercer is a general surgeon based in Christchurch and the Chair of the RACS Aotearoa New Zealand National Committee.

As a secondary school student who liked science, maths and sports, Dr Mercer applied for medical school after a medical intermediate year at the University of Canterbury. Her alternative career plan was agricultural science if she was unsuccessful in her application. Surgery wasn’t a clear career path until after she had explored many different areas of medical practice as a student and as a house surgeon. She believes that students should explore and identify what they most enjoy instead of entering medicine with a preconceived focus. General surgery was an unusual choice for women at that time. Dr Mercer asked a consultant when she was a second-year house officer whether surgery would be a good career choice. He advised her that it was a hard career path. Undeterred, she applied for a non-training general surgical registrar position, and when her application was not successful applied to a hospital in the North Island. This time she was successful. “The consultant who advised me not to pursue surgery became one of my most fervent supporters.” Dr Mercer is very honoured to be the Chair of the RACS Aotearoa New Zealand National Committee (AoNZNC). “It’s a big responsibility overseeing the committee and working with the AoNZNC office. The role includes communications, ensuring we support all our Fellows and Trainees, as well as working to maintain standards and the care of the community.” There are many aspects of the job she enjoys. She recently chaired an International Women’s Day Breakfast where attendees heard about a mentoring program called Wāhine Connect that had been established for women in medicine by public health physician Juliet Rumball-Smith. Dr Mercer has been working to address the workforce crisis in New Zealand. This has been a major issue for AoNZNC for some years, exacerbated by the pandemic. The AoNZNC has been advocating on behalf of surgeons through talks with Dr Robyn Carey, the chief medical officer with the Ministry of Health, about how government can assist. “RACS, government and the Medical Council need to work together to train more Aotearoa New Zealand Trainees who then become Aotearoa New Zealand surgeons and enable more overseas medical staff to qualify to work in Aotearoa New Zealand to relieve the many shortages in healthcare due to the impact of COVID-19 and border closures.” Mentoring and supporting other surgeons and doctors is another part of Dr Mercer’s role as chair of the RACS AoNZNC that she is passionate about. “I try to support as many people as I can—to help them with whatever issues. A surgeon’s role should also be about helping people around you and supporting your colleagues and staff. I am happy that my profile provides me with the opportunity to provide advice and support to many surgeons who call me when they need help or guidance.” Some changes introduced under Dr Mercer’s leadership include increasing the deputy chair’s involvement in the executive office to increase the team’s knowledge and make the transition from deputy to chair smoother, and introducing the name Aotearoa for the Committee. “Not everyone agrees with this change but I’m proud of the change.” Dr Mercer looks forward to encouraging more people to take up surgery, including Māori and Pasifika. “We need to create more role models and culturally safer environments. We are introducing cultural safety training into many of our programs, which we hope will help to remove any racism or cultural bias that Māori or Pasifika may come up against. We have very good Māori doctors and surgeons on our Māori Health Advisory Group who advise and assist the National Committee and the wider College.” Dr Mercer will step down as chair at the end of June, when deputy chair Dr Andrew MacCormick will move into the role. She will continue to stay on the Committee for another two years. “Dr MacCormick has an interest in reducing environmental impact and protecting community health through reducing energy waste and renewable energy. As surgeons we need to be leading in these areas.”