Dr Nazira Chatur, a Vancouver gastroenterologist credits her mentors for inspiring her to pursue her chosen specialty. In fact, when asked about her mentors, she recalls how much she loved being on-call with her mentor, Dr Donald Carr. Dr Chatur describes “I could see him work with a bleeding patient – it would literally be like going from a movie scene in Kill Bill to a scene in Love Story. He was just so great with his patients – he was definitely an inspiration to me.”
Dr Andrew Krahn, Head of UBC Cardiology and a cardiologist at St Paul’s and Vancouver General hospitals, is a leader in genetically related heart disease. His journey to his current position started by following his own heart. Originally, leaning towards studying engineering, he veered at the last minute to taking undergraduate sciences that eventually led to a career in medicine.
Campbell River’s colorectal surgeon, Dr Tiffany Chan, chose her path by following this piece of advice: pick a speciality with the kind of people you like to hang out with because they will be your colleagues, mentors and advisors for the rest of your career. Dr Chan found that colleagues in colorectal surgery were her kind of people.
Dr Carol Ward, a geriatric psychiatrist chose her specialty for the opportunity to connect with people. “I love stories. I love to hear people’s stories. And the longer you live, the better the story.” Growing up in the Maritimes, Dr Ward was surrounded by good story-tellers – “Generally speaking I find older folk are grateful and very appreciative of being able to share their lived experience.” Knowing her patients’ stories is her way to helping them. Dr Ward finds that it’s like being a detective – pulling all aspects of medicine and a person’s background together.
Dr Andrew Gray, a Medical Health Officer in Northern Health, attributes his pursuit of the Public Health and Preventive Medicine specialty to a desire for contributing to the well being of people, as well as good timing.
For Dr Leena Jain, a geriatrician at Fraser Health, becoming a doctor was like continuing her family legacy since her grandfather, father, both her siblings and her husband are all physicians. “My father never pushed me to become a doctor, but I saw the gratification in his eyes when he helped patients – they were so thankful to have been treated by him.”
Like many doctors, Dr Kelly Mayson had mentors as she pursued her medical degree in the mid-eighties. It was during a rural rotation that she met a GP anesthesiologist, who mentored her and ‘opened her eyes’ to the potential of anesthesiology.
Over 200 attendees from all regions of BC with differing levels of involvement in BC’s specialist care came together in Vancouver last month to the inaugural Specialist Symposium: Shaping the Future of Specialist Care in BC. This event was hosted as a partnership between the Specialist Services Committee (link is external) (SSC) and the Specialists of BC (link is external) (SBC) with the aim of capturing the voices of front-line specialists in setting the direction of specialist care moving forward.
What initially attracted Dr Marius Pienaar to move to British Columbia from Cape Town was his love of skiing and adventure. He had an immediate sense of connection with Prince Rupert after landing on New Year’s Eve in 1992 with his wife and three sons and 26 years later, he has a deep connection with the community he calls home. As the only OB/GYN in Prince Rupert serving the North Coast of BC, he is looking forward to spending the remaining years of his career, as well as his retirement, in “this amazing community.”