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RACS leadership
The College welcomes its 49th president – Dr Sally Langley Surgical News spoke with the new Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) President, Dr Sally Langley, to find out more about her and her ambitions for the College. Dr Langley’s term as president commenced on 13 May 2021. Dr Sally Langley is the College’s 49th president. She is the second female president, after Mrs Anne Kolbe (20032005), in the organisation’s 94 years of existence. The Christchurch-born president didn't think she would be a surgeon. Her first ambition was to be a violinist and she still plays unaccompanied Bach partitas and sonatas – no mean feat, as the famous musician’s superlative works for violin are considered the pinnacle of achievement for any violinist.
Inspired by her father, who was a general practitioner in Christchurch, Dr Langley turned to medicine, an interest furthered by her childhood love of reading the anatomical section of a children’s magazine called Knowledge.
Christchurch and Auckland. After gaining Fellowship, she did a six-month stint in Vascular Surgery, six months as a hand and microsurgery Fellow at Louisville, Kentucky, and one year at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, United Kingdom.
After graduating from Otago University, she embarked on her medical career as a house officer for two years. This was followed by an additional two years as a registrar in Christchurch at Burwood and Christchurch hospitals. She then started a four-year training in Plastic Surgery, in
“I really enjoyed the time spent overseas,” said Dr Langley. “It felt like a reward doing something special. I worked in head and neck surgery, cleft lip and palate, and hand and microsurgery.” Dr Sally Langley is a well-respected Aotearoa New Zealand plastic surgeon.
