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Fellow contribution
Dr Steven Craig on a life-changing Canadian Fellowship It was 33C degrees when we flew out of Sydney, and -26C when we arrived in Calgary. We stepped out of the airport’s heavy double doors and our two-year-old daughter, shocked by the cold, screamed, “Bad Canada!” We ran back inside, tore open our bags and put on almost every item of clothing we had. In 2018 I elected to take time away from my visiting medical officer (VMO) positions in New South Wales to undertake further education in two areas of particular interest, namely endocrine surgery and surgical education. These are also specialty ‘areas of need’ in the districts that I am employed. To further my education in these areas, I developed a comprehensive educational program in North America. I was accepted to commence an American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES) Fellowship at the University of Calgary under world-renowned endocrine surgeon Dr Janice Pasieka. The AAES Fellowship is merit-based and highly competitive, with only 25 Fellows selected for high-volume sites across the entire United States and Canada. This fellowship met the clinical component of my educational goals, and it further developed important academic skills in teaching and research.
After our first night in Canada, we scurried from the empty outdoor car park to the mall to buy clothes. (Only later did we realise that the ‘parkade’ signs we kept seeing were directing us to the underground heated carpark, where everyone else had parked.) That afternoon, in our ‘proper’ Canadian winter clothes, we had a snowball fight in the park opposite our apartment, and Canada was no longer ‘bad’. A few days later, I was issued the regulation white lab coat with my name emblazoned on it, and I set off to start my American Association of Endocrine Surgeons Fellowship. Once I’d figured out that there was no ‘tea room’ (“Oooh the tea room?! Is the Queen coming or something?!”) and to look instead for the ‘doctors’ lounge’, things went smoothly, despite the lack of tea – and the terrible coffee. My experiences – clinically, and in terms of research and teaching – were varied and valuable. The case volume was broad and covered the full spectrum of endocrine surgery, with consistently challenging and complex cases, befitting a major university hospital. There were regular clinics for general endocrine surgery, genetic endocrine conditions, and neuro-endocrine tumours, and I
The family enjoying the Canadian winter.
was fortunate to complete ancillary rotations through endocrine medicine, radiology and pathology. I gained valuable experience in retro-peritoneal adrenalectomy, the application of intraoperative PTH in primary and tertiary hyperparathyroidism, sternotomy for the management of goitres, and the surgical management of gastro-intestinal neuroendocrine tumours. My preceptors, Dr Janice Pasieka and Dr Adrian Harvey, were meticulous. Their interest in the intricacies and nuances of current endocrine surgery, and how it might be applied to practice, was impressive. It also appealed very much to my academic bent and to my love of the exquisiteness of endocrine surgery. Fellows’ meetings were held every Monday at 7am, come snow or shine, often based around a current controversy in endocrine surgery that I would need to research, present, and defend. I was also immersed in the history of endocrine surgery (a favourite topic of Dr Pasieka), including founding figures and contributors, and how the specialty has evolved over the years.
Dr Steven Craig with Professor Janice Pasieka
Complementing my clinical experiences were some great research opportunities,
