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My name is Yasmin, and I’m currently a fourth-year medical student. I am eager to be considered for the Specialty Representative role. I have a strong interest in surgery and have been actively participating in Cutting Edge events since coming to medical school. As a Specialty Rep, I would work diligently to organise and facilitate events that explore the various surgical specialties.

I have attended conferences at both Royal Colleges of Surgeons (RCS) in England and Edinburgh during the last academic year, and I have explored the different surgical specialties and their respective aspects. I believe it’s essential to address the application process for different specialties, especially given the growing competitiveness. To support students, I would also aim to focus on how to build a strong medical portfolio, including documenting surgical experience via the Surgical Logbook, obtaining collaborations/publications, gaining teaching experience, and attending relevant conferences.

In addition, I previously served as the undergraduate school representative for Medicine – MBChB Years 0-3. This role has equipped me with effective communication skills and the ability to collaborate with students and staff to organise meetings and gather feedback.

I look forward to contributing to the various events organised by Cutting Edge. I hope to be selected for this position and am excited about the prospect of collaborating with the team!

Hi, I’m Aishwarya. I’m a second year medical student with a keen interest in surgery, I have an immense desire to learn and explore everything encompassing this varied speciality. I would love to be your speciality rep this year and help others do the same! I recognise how intimidating this career can be especially for a lot of first year med students who come into medical school with this ambition because I was in a similar position myself. I want to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere where all medical students regardless of their academic year can ask questions and be offered appropriate advice to help them progress. I really believe that with the right resources and mentorship, becoming a surgeon is highly achievable. I hope that my work as a specialty rep will inspire others to consider surgery as their future career and hopefully introduce them to some new and exciting surgical specialities.

I am passionate about breaking down barriers in surgery and will dedicate my time motivating those who wouldn’t have traditionally considered some more competitive surgical specialities especially medical students from lower income backgrounds and BAME groups. If given the opportunity, I will arrange talks and events with the help of the wider committee, specifically to combat these issues. As a BAME medical student, I recognise how important these issues are and I will strive to make sure no one dismisses surgery because of this. I also want to organise workshops where students can be introduced to more niche specialties they had never previously considered.

If I was to be elected, I will do my best to offer support in whatever way is needed, liaise with my fellow speciality rep to ensure all surgical specialities are represented at skills workshops and events and foster a learning and nurturing environment.

I am Varuni, a third-year, who is incredibly passionate about surgery and would like to be the new Specialty Rep for CuttingEdge. Throughout my time at the University, I've gained exposure through research and shadowing in general surgery, anaesthesia, hand surgery and many other surgical specialities, working with mentors and building networks that I can leverage as the new Specialty Rep. I am eager to apply my interpersonal skills to create engaging and educational speciality events in liaison with speciality-specific medical societies and experienced surgeons that cater to everybody's interests. I hope to organise impactful, skill-focused workshops and discussions that inspire students across all surgical specialities. I would be incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to represent diverse surgical fields at Cutting Edge and help the society thrive.

Hi, I'm Will, a second-year medical student running for specialty representative. I hope that with my skills, I can make a positive impact on CuttingEdge and its events, helping to inform more people about the opportunities within surgery.

I was first introduced to surgery last year, through the ENQUIRE 1 module and the anaesthetics team at St James's. I had the opportunity to attend several general surgery cases in theatre, where I was fortunate enough to scrub in and assist. Witnessing how direct actions in surgery led to positive outcomes on the wards sparked my interest in exploring the field further. Since then, I have gained hands-on experience in various specialties to increase my connections with surgeons. Currently, I am working on building relationships with plastic surgeons in Leeds to secure shadowing opportunities. If elected as your specialty rep, I would use these connections to organise informative events for CuttingEdge members, allowing more people to experience what different specialties have to offer and develop the same passion I have found for surgery.

As the sponsorship rep for MedSoc, I have experience working in teams to organise large-scale events for students. I plan to apply these skills to arrange new events for CuttingEdge, incorporating a wider range of specialties on a larger scale. One idea I’d like to explore is a "specialty speed dating" event.

Outside of academics, I enjoy playing badminton, which has helped me develop leadership skills by captaining teams in tournaments. I believe these leadership and interpersonal skills will be invaluable in this role, particularly when organising events for the society. Being part of Medics Badminton at Leeds has also allowed me to connect with students outside of second year, giving me insight into what they might want from CuttingEdge.

I am passionate about surgery and eager to bring that enthusiasm to the role of specialty representative. I look forward to the chance to contribute to the society and help others explore the diverse world of surgical specialties if I am elected. Thank you for considering my nomination.

Hi! I’m Joshua, a 2nd year medical student, and I would love the opportunity to become part of the excellent committee of Cutting Edge! Last year I got to know the society by attending a wide range of events. These included the 6-week Suturing Series, Breaking Barriers into Surgery event, Introduction to Surgery conference, Laparoscopic Surgery Workshop, Surgical Talk Series and many more. These events really helped ignite my passion for all things surgery and I am really excited for the opportunity to help bring more of these events to life! I think many people in medical school who are interested in surgery don’t yet know which specialties they resonate with, and I believe it would be a huge help to give people plenty of authentic exposure to the vast range of specialties out there!

I am well-suited to this role since I have experience in both organisations and liaising with others. In 6th form, I was the chair of my medical society which involved regular collaboration with the Careers Officer and other members of the society, alongside school alumni and medical professionals to arrange exciting and engaging events. The main feedback I received in my role was that I was easy to talk to, reliable and consistently made sure to include the society’s wants and needs in our events.

It would be my pleasure to not only give my time to assist in the creation of specialty-specific events, but also help the committee in the annual conferences, give ideas and be open minded in committee meetings, as well as support any other events that involve the society!

I have included an attached plan for a proposed specialty-specific surgical event!

On a final note, I would love to use my passion for surgery to help build events that members of the society would find both interesting and exciting as well as helping them find which parts of surgery they are connected to!

Thank you for your consideration, I hope to become Cutting edge’s newest committee member and look forward to working alongside the team to continue to provide amazing surgical events for the upcoming years!

Hi, I'm Sienna, and I’m applying for the role of Specialty Representative for Cutting Edge. I have a keen interest in surgery which has been nurtured through active participation in surgical skills training sessions, workshops, and conferences, which have further deepened my passion for this field.
As a former member of the Cutting Edge committee, I contributed to organising our successful OSCE series last year. This experience has equipped me with valuable event-planning and teamwork skills, which I am eager to apply in this role. Working closely with the current Specialties Representative, I am enthusiastic about helping to organise and run events that will give students hands-on, practical experiences—demystifying various surgical fields and offering insight into specialty-specific skills.
In addition to my time with Cutting Edge, I’ve gained significant organisational and communication skills through my roles in committees such as PALS, the British Sign Language (BSL) Society, and MSRC. These experiences have enhanced my ability to coordinate events, manage responsibilities, and collaborate with others—skills that I look forward to bringing to the Specialty Rep role.
With my experience and dedication, I am confident that I can contribute to society’s continued success. I’m excited about the opportunity to work closely with the committee again, and I look forward to helping enhance the experiences of students interested in surgery.
Thank you :)

Hi, my name is Anastasia and I’m a third-year medical student passionate about surgery and committed to promoting opportunities for students to explore and engage with various surgical specialties. I have developed the appropriate skills for the role of Specialty Representative, such as effective communication and collaboration skills through my work as Secretary of the Endocrinology Society as well as through other leadership roles throughout my time in sixth form. As such, I have developed skills that will enable me to create, organise, and facilitate events, talks, and skills workshops that highlight the diversity of the surgical field. I appreciate the importance of representing all surgical specialities and building connections across the surgical community, and as an avid Cutting Edge member over the past 2-years, I can give valuable insight into how Cutting Edge can improve its speciality representation in the future! To conclude, I am highly organised, dedicated, and determined to help expand access to surgical specialities, and I would be honoured to contribute to the mission of Cutting Edge as a Specialty Representative.

Hi, my name is Andrew McWilliams and I am a 3rd year medical student. I am applying for Specialty Rep because I believe I can use my own skills, network and enthusiasm for surgery to provide a wide range of informative and exciting opportunities for those interested in particular surgical specialities. I will do this by organising and facilitating multiple events specific to particular specialities with experienced surgeons in their fields.

Throughout my years at Med School and before, I have always engaged with the surgeons I have met on placement and have started to build a network. This includes surgeons In all fields. Before even coming to med school I was involved in a 2-week work experience with the Cardiology department in Pinderfields Hospital, observing many interesting procedures, such as pacemaker/defibrillator installations, stenting and more. This summer I spent multiple days in Huddersfield hospital with Orthopaedic surgeons, learning about the speciality and observing many interesting procedures. Similar to this, I have gained experience in ENT, general surgery, urology and many more and I would like to share these experiences and knowledge gained with other medical students.

I look forward to working with other speciality-specific societies and organising fun and informative collaborated events to develop your interests, experience and knowledge of these specialities. I will also utilise my connections to provide talks from surgeons, opportunities to gain first-hand experience in these specialities and advice on how to get on the pathway for certain specialities.

I believe I will be a great fit for this role, as I have many past experiences of leadership and teamwork. During high school and sixth form, I was both Head Prefect and Head of House for my school. These roles involved me working efficiently within a small team to organise events such as school sport days and charity matches, as well as listening to student’s voices as to what they would like to be improved within the school. I have developed strong teamworking skills through many non-academic clubs such as football, rugby and tennis, but also in more academic areas such as acting as a mentor for my old school in which I help students get into medicine.

I am an organised and resilient individual with being able to balance not only multiple sports alongside my academic life but also big personal challenges. I have had some extremely difficult times, especially over the past couple of years, however, I have been able to keep on going and further pursue my career in surgery, in which I will be able to help those going through similar rough times. This resilience is why I know that I will be able to provide my duties as Speciality Rep no matter how busy or hectic third year may be, and that I will prioritise the interests of all those involved in Cutting Edge.

I would appreciate it massively if you would vote for me! I look forward to carrying out this role in the future (hopefully) :)