My Doctor Appreciation Week Kathryn Fishwick

Hello, my name is Kathryn Fishwick.

I am not from a medical family and was attracted to medicine as a career as I loved biological science and was fascinated by how the body worked technically. I chose obstetrics and gynaecology as it was the first time as a student that you could be hands on and part of a team.

Serendipity played a part in my final choice of Urogynaecology - I landed posts in Urology and Surgery before being offered a fellowship in Urogynaecology and Reconstructive pelvic floor surgery at LSU ( New Orleans) provided I passed my USMLE.

I returned to the UK as one of the highest trained Urogynaecologists in the country and set for academia. But a twist of family fate (my father developed dementia) led me to take the first post that was as near to Burnley as possible - and that happened to be here in West Yorkshire.

That was 26 years ago. I am still as passionate about my job today as I was the day I qualified. The pleasure of the job itself - having a skill set that really makes a difference to people’s lives, that improves the quality of their lives and on occasions saves their lives, is a privilege.

As I come up to the age of retirement, I am still finding new things to stretch my aging brain. I have developed an interest in the science of robotics and I am one of a tiny handful of surgeons in the uk who can harvest natural grafts in place of mesh for reconstructive surgery - this is leading to our first UK /Australia symposium at the end of the year.

My message to the next generation of doctors - work hard, think big, never turn down an opportunity that falls into your lap, remember to be humble - we are trained to serve our patients.