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Hi everyone, I am Sumaiyah, the current Treasurer of Cutting Edge. I would like to put myself for the role of co-president for 2024/25.

Having been on the committee for 2 years, I feel I can bring a lot to the role as co-president.

Initially, being a clinical rep enabled me to make contacts with surgeons for suturing and teaching sessions. The role taught me how to collaborate with them to organise enjoyable and stimulating events for students.

My current role as treasurer has taught me about the background functioning of the society and how to manage finances and sponsorships effectively. The skills I have learnt from this role will allow me to understand how the logistics of the society works and improvements that can be made here.

With 2 years of committee experience in these two roles, I have a sufficient understanding of how Cutting Edge runs. I believe with this knowledge I can enable the society flourish even more so next year.

My ideas for the society next year mostly involve branching out on a national level. Cutting Edge is a successful society with hard-working committee members at the core and I think it deserves national recognition. The main way to pursue this would be to collaborate with organisations across England, especially surgical societies from other Universities. Making these relationships would help to build the society to greater levels in the future.

I aim to continue many of the current schemes and events for the society such as the mentorship scheme, suturing series and conferences as these have been greatly received by our members. Additionally, I will ensure that MOSCEs for years 3 and 4 are available next year as I understand how helpful they are for all medical students.

Thank you for reading my manifesto!

Hi there, my name is Katie,

I am the current conference director for Cutting Edge. I am extremely passionate about Cutting Edge and worked tirelessly to pull off two highly successful conferences this year, I plan to continue this enthusiasm for our society's success to lead us into an incredible next year.

My key objectives for Cutting Edge...

Widening Access
There are significant barriers into Medicine already and even more when applying to surgery. I want to create a society accessible to everyone. To do this I will slash our membership cost down to £5, I will aim to secure long-term external funding so we can run all events at a lower cost, and I plan to expand the mentorship scheme to enable access to all those interested, providing vital future contacts. Additionally, I hope to develop further our outreach program, working closely with Access to Medicine to inspire young adults to pursue Surgery within schools.

Research and Portfolio development
Surgery is a competitive specialty, and I strongly believe we need to replace internal competition at Leeds Medical school, with the attitude that we are all working together to fill surgical posts with Leeds graduates. To do this, Cutting Edge will be expanded to better support medical students in accessing research and audit opportunities. This will be achieved by recruiting a research lead, who will help facilitate research-based teaching as well as organizing medical student research groups, with the aim to match younger years with older year students, junior doctors or academic clinical fellows conducting research and audits.

Skills and Knowledge Development
Cutting Edge already runs a set of amazing events throughout the year, I plan to work on developing these events further by running/continuing:
- The popular suturing series and including free virtual tickets, with video uploads accessible to all.
- Laparoscopic skills events
- Specific skills workshops alongside specialist surgical societies: for example, a “saw bones” workshop.
- A “Surgical Elective Information” event
- A “Pursuing Surgery internationally” event
- An “Intercalation for aspiring surgeon's” event

National and Regional Links
I aim to foster national links with ASiT, Royal College of Surgeons England and RCS Edinburgh, by running a national scale conference, accredited by one of the above, which links surgical societies from all over. I plan to strengthen links to some of the 24 established specialty specific national associations by working in collaboration with other surgical societies, to run specialty focused events and conferences.

Why should you vote for me?

I have already demonstrated leadership, hard work and passion through my current role by coordinating our committee to facilitate the largest Cutting-Edge event of the year (70+ attendees), recruiting 8 surgeons (a notoriously hard feat), and supporting the Cutting-Edge committee at every chance. I am a responsible, fair, enthusiastic individual who will work well with a co-president to lead our society in completing as many of the above objectives as we can.

Hello everyone, my name is Tom Sturt and I am the current Vice President of Cutting Edge. I am incredibly excited about the future of our society and the prospect of a career in surgery, therefore I wish to put myself forward to be the Co-President of Cutting Edge!

Since joining medical school, I have enjoyed being a committed member of Cutting Edge and have become increasingly involved within the wider surgical community. From attending several national surgical conferences and meetings, to going on a cardiothoracic surgery student programme in the Netherlands last year, to immersing myself in Cutting Edge’s comprehensive selection of events. I am heavily involved in surgical groups outside our university, and currently represent Leeds on the Association of Surgeons in Training (ASiT) board of Medical Student Ambassadors.

I have had the privilege of serving on the committee in various capacities, including as Pre-Clinical Representative where I organised several events for the society, such as a successful regional anatomy teaching series. This year, I have made an unwavering commitment to the society in my role as Vice President. I have remained dedicated to supporting the society in every way that I can; be this sharing ideas whilst chairing committee meetings, facilitating events, to leading on initiatives. This is because I am passionate about surgery, committed to delivering for those within the surgical community, and focussed on driving forward the success of Cutting Edge for everyone involved.

All of these experiences have shaped that clear vision that I have for Cutting Edge, which is based upon the three principles of research and innovation; networking opportunity; and surgical education. I am brimming with ideas for our society and can only begin to give you a flavour of my ambitions in this manifesto. I understand the responsibilities of an effective Co-President and I will endeavour to lead with a sense of organisation, fairness, and aspiration.

Research and Innovation:
This is my top priority for next year.
- I want to develop the ways in which our society can support aspiring surgeons gain access to research and audit experience, for example by establishing a research programme, led by a newly-elected ‘Research Representative’ who will help coordinate opportunities for students to engage in academia.
- Innovation goes hand-in-hand with research, and I want to raise the profile of our output in this sense by running ‘Hackathon’ style sessions, developing existing links with surgeons to provide practical teaching on laparoscopy and VR in surgery, and to pursue the relationship that I have forged between our society and the international ‘Junior ORSI Academy’ to provide insight into the field of robotic surgery.

Networking Opportunity:
We must provide opportunity for students to meet with surgeons, but also share ideas and experiences with each other as surgeons of the future!
- The mentorship scheme remains a successful method in which students can meet surgeons, and I plan to expand our current networking platforms, by running more events where our community of mentors and mentees can meet all together, such as in the form of an inaugural surgical society dinner.
- There are several nation-wide surgical committees, including the RCS Future Surgeons Forum, PRASSA, BOMSA, BSCOS and ASiT, and I want to see Cutting Edge using it’s esteemed national reputation to collaborate with these groups, and deliver events to enhance the opportunities Leeds students have to network.

Surgical Education:
Cutting Edge is renowned for providing high-quality teaching.
- The suturing series is very well-regarded amongst students, and I will ensure we continue to deliver teaching which provides tangible benefits for both our members and the committee in the form of portfolio-scoring initiatives.
- I want to better engage students from right across the medical school, from Years 1 to 5! For example, by running a large, single conference, which encompasses teaching elements designed to empower students from every year group.

Beyond these priorities, I am acutely aware of the logistical ways in which we can develop the society, such as ensuring that our work promotes inclusivity, re-evaluating the benefits and cost associated with membership, fostering clear-cut communication with our members, and assessing our social media use, particularly in regards to LinkedIn, which as a society we can certainly use to our advantage. Above all, I recognise and share your ambitions for the direction of our society.

Thank you very much for reading my manifesto. I hope to have gained your vote, and would relish the opportunity to steer Cutting Edge to further successes alongside the other Co-President, and you, as valued members of our society and committee-position-holders of the future!