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Meet our new vice president Gratitude drives Professor Chris Pyke
Professor Chris Pyke is motivated by a sense of gratitude in his roles as a breast and endocrine surgeon and incoming RACS vice president. The Brisbane-based surgeon is grateful for the free university education that enabled him to complete a medical degree, and for the many mentors and colleagues who supported and inspired him along the way. But Professor Pyke is most grateful that he discovered a career that he enjoys, finds satisfying and gives him the opportunity to repay what he considers to be a debt to the community and the profession.
“It was a happy discovery that I really enjoyed surgery and I was good enough at it,” he says. “It’s very tactile—like woodwork—and every day it’s like you’re involved with your patient in hand-to-hand combat against disease.” Since the death of his sister after a 20year battle with breast cancer, Professor Pyke is aware of the toll the disease takes on families and communities. In his area of specialty, he feels like he can make a significant impact on patients’ lives and those of their loved ones.
“I have to say, if you want to affect the community, just make a disease for middle-aged women; they are front and centre of every single family at that age, and many workplaces. They’re the glue of our society and diseases that affect them affect everyone,” he says. “Working in this area, you can make a real difference.” While Professor Pyke’s father was a paramedic, his influence on encouraging his son to pursue a medical career was more to do with his work ethic and notion of a vocation. It was only later, when he was a medical student that Professor
