QUB Sixth Form Medical Careers Symposium

On Wednesday 12 February I boarded the train to the City Hospital at 8.00am and on my arrival I walked through the hospital to the Medical Biology Centre at QUB, the event location. The day began with registration: I watched as over 300 wannabe medical students piled into the lecture hall.

The first speech was given by the Admissions Dean for Medicine at QUB before we were split into small groups to explore the Medical Biology Centre. We visited the Anatomy and Physiology Centre and tested our normal lung capacity in comparison with the simulation of a lung with respiratory disease.  We were also shown real specimens of kidneys, (that had ballooned to five times their normal size), tumorous brains and a very unusual section of an intestine (which had to be operated upon as the patient had a habit of chewing on their sleeves – this had resulted in a large blockage of woolly jumper!).

We returned to the lecture hall and heard from a GP, a Surgeon, a lecturer of Biomedical Sciences and two actual medical students. I was impressed as they explained, ’the truth behind being a medical student’, which actually entails long nights watching medical lectures, mountains of books to read – but also how they couldn’t imagine doing anything else as the whole process is so rewarding.

This was a truly worthwhile day which I thoroughly enjoyed and I would urge anyone wishing to pursue a career in Medicine to attend.

Harriet Bradford, Year 13