Dr Katie McDowell is my friend and colleague, and if I’m honest, the first trans and non-binary person I’ve known socially. Over the year that I’ve known Katie my understanding of gender and sexuality has completely transformed. When I thought about calling the podcast "She’s The Doctor", my first thought was to run it by Katie. They approved and were keen to be a guest on the show - so today’s episode is extra special as it is “They’re The Doctor”.
I have had so many interesting conversations with Katie over the last year which have challenged and changed my thoughts on a variety of socially accepted norms around gender, and I’m so glad to be able to share some of these with you today. This episode is a mixture of hearing from Katie about their lived experience as a trans non-binary person and paediatric doctor, but also learning about how we can be better allies, more empathetic doctors to our patients and how far we have to go as a healthcare systems. We hear their story of “coming out” (for want of a better term) as non-binary and the process of having top surgery. We also discuss paediatrics - working as paediatricians, how gender has a huge role in neonates, how we can better care for our LGBTQ+ patients. We touch on many important topics in this conversation and I’m very grateful to Katie for being so open and giving us their time and energy to educate us on topics that people often shy away from discussing.
Where you can find Dr Katie McDowell:
LinkedIn: Dr Katie McDowell
Twitter: @KatuMcD
Trans-formational? Why we need to do better for trans young people in the UK. The British Student Doctor Journal. 2021;5(2):75–84
Where you can find Dr Radhika Thakrar:
Email: doctorradhika28@gmail.com
Instagram: @doctorradhika
Twitter: @RadhikaThakrar
Useful Resources:
Gender / Sexuality / Queer series of graphic novels by Meg-John Barker and Julia Scheele
The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye
Life Isn’t Binary by Meg-John Barker
Trans Power by Juno Roche
None of The Above by Travis Alabanza
NB: My Non-Binary Life podcast – Amrou Al-Kadhi & Caitlin Benedict
New episodes out every Tuesday :) (although this is the last of this season so I will be having a break for a few weeks as of 6th September 2022!)
Don't forget to rate, like and subscribe (please and thank you!)
I’m delighted to interview Dr Tessa Davis on today’s episode. Tessa has a lot of titles - paediatric emergency medicine consultant in London, co-founder of Dont Forget The Bubbles - the educational website for all things paediatrics, and a writer. Tessa uses twitter to share tips to over 130 000 followers on how to improve your use of technology, mastering your presentation skills, and the optimising the education you deliver. In this episode we delve into these in more detail - DFTB, Tessa’s twitter, the Emergency Medicine masters that she recently set up, and we also chat about life as a consultant and how Tessa manages this all with three children and two dogs.
Where you can find Dr Tessa Davis:
Website: www.tessardavis.com
Twitter: @TessaRDavis
Don't Forget The Bubbles:
Website: dontforgetthebubbles.com
Twitter: @DFTBubbles
Instagram: @DFTBubbles
YouTube: Dont Forget The Bubbles
Where you can find Dr Radhika Thakrar:
Email: doctorradhika28@gmail.com
Instagram: @doctorradhika
Twitter: @RadhikaThakrar
Other things mentioned:
Your Stance
RCPCH Lifelong careers
New episodes out every Tuesday :)
Don't forget to rate, like and subscribe (please and thank you!)
In this week's episode Dr Jade Scott-Blagrove shares the story - from growing up in a one bedroom flat in Bristol, she is now a radiology trainee with a passion for supporting medical students and doctors from widening participation backgrounds.
We hear about the variety of challenges she faced from a young age - from being placed into a secondary school over an hour away from home, the difficulty of finding work experience, four rejections the first time she applied to university and the financial strain of medical school. Jade tells us how she overcame each of these obstacles and what she learnt in the process.
In 2020, Jade founded the Widening Participation Medics Network - an organisation supporting future doctors from a variety of underrepresented backgrounds. This is now a national network of 120 volunteers and 600 members. She has since co-founded RadReach with the Royal College of Radiology - to support doctors from widening participation backgrounds applying to radiology specialty training.
Where you can find Dr Jade Scott-Blagrove:
Twitter: @JadeScottB
RadReach
Widening Participation Medics Network
Where you can find Dr Radhika Thakrar:
Email: doctorradhika28@gmail.com
Instagram: @doctorradhika
Twitter: @RadhikaThakrar
New episodes out every Tuesday :)
Don't forget to rate, like and subscribe (please and thank you!)
This week, the multi-talented Dr Hannah Barham-Brown talks to us about how her life changed completely when Ehlers Danlos syndrome took her from a half-marathon running medical student to a wheelchair using foundation doctor.
Now a GP registrar, TEDx speaker and deputy leader of the Women's Equality Party, it’s incredible to hear how she works with her disability to improve the lives of patients, women and other disabled people all across the country.
Her account of working on the wards in a wheelchair are essential listening for every healthcare professional as we aspire to create a more inclusive work environment. She advocates for disabled NHS employees, explaining how few have their basic legally required employment rights met and how she’s working to change that.
As deputy leader of the Women’s Equality Party she explains how she can make a big difference to the way other politicians see women’s rights to health and safety, and teaches us how equality for women would lift us up as a society.
Where you can find Dr Hannah Barham-Brown:
Twitter: @DrHannahBB
Instagram: @drhannahbarhambrown
Website: hannahbarhambrown.com
TEDx Talk: Disability and Work: Lets Stop Wasting Talent
Where you can find Dr Radhika Thakrar:
Email: doctorradhika28@gmail.com
Instagram: @doctorradhika
Twitter: @RadhikaThakrar
New episodes out every Tuesday :)
Don't forget to rate, like and subscribe (please and thank you!)
Every year across the country on the first Wednesday of August new doctors start the first day of their careers. I remember my first day of FY1 back in 2018 - I was so excited but also VERY nervous. In today’s episode I sit down with Dr Kantida Koysombat - a doctor just finishing her FY1 year - and we talk all about the first year as a doctor. We discuss how we both felt during those first few days and weeks, give advice and tips on how to make it easier, how to manage busy on-call shifts, the importance of looking after yourself, avoiding burnout, eportfolio and our experiences as women in medicine. We know how you’re feeling and we’ve been through it too. I hope this episode helps you feel more prepared for your first year as a doctor.
Where you can find Dr Kantida Koysombat:
Instagram: @kantida.k
Where you can find Dr Radhika Thakrar:
Email: doctorradhika28@gmail.com
Instagram: @doctorradhika
Twitter: @RadhikaThakrar
Services/Charities for Mental Health for Doctors:
Practitioner Help
Duty To Care
You Okay, Doc?
New episodes out every Tuesday! Don't forget to rate, like, share and subscribe :)
On this week’s episode we’re joined by Dr Tosin Ajayi-Sotubo who stars on the Channel 4 BAFTA winning show Embarrassing Bodies. It’s fascinating to hear how she handles patient consultations with TV cameras in the room, and what she aims to achieve for wider public health.
She is also a General Practitioner, and shares her experiences in the specialty. She gives us tips for current doctors and students on patient interaction, particularly focusing on remote consultations, potentially embarrassing problems and building a comfortable environment for the patient.
She is the founder of Mind Body Doctor, her patient focused health blog. This started her meteoric rise, speaking at events, writing for magazines and appearing on TV. She shares some of her experiences of speaking to large audiences about managing their health.
Where you can find Dr Tosin Ajayi-Sotubo
Instagram: @mindbodydoctor
Website: www.mindbodydoctor.co.uk
Channel 4 Embarrassing Bodies
Where you can find Dr Radhika Thakrar:
Email: doctorradhika28@gmail.com
Instagram: @doctorradhika
Twitter: @RadhikaThakrar
New episodes out every Tuesday!
Don't forget to rate, like and subscribe :)
Dr Bina Vekaria is a Radiology Registrar from Brighton who joins us this week to talk all about Out of Programme Experiences (OOPEs), her experiences of Radiology training and work and life for UK doctors in Australia.
Bina talks to us about how hard she found her first year of radiology training, and the perseverance through which she found her love of the specialty. She shares anecdotes from her journey in radiology, her favourite aspects of the job and it is great listening for anyone considering radiology as a career.
She also teaches us how recognising ‘destination addiction’, which particularly affects medics, led her to take an OOPE. This has given her an opportunity to broaden her skillset, spend more quality time with family and improving her work-life balance. Her insights into her fight to have the time away granted, how they can help trainees in a broad range of specialties and the process involved are vital for anyone considering a longer training programme.
Where you can find Dr Bina Vekaria:
Instagram: @thevegandoctor
Where you can find Dr Radhika Thakrar:
Email: doctorradhika28@gmail.com
Instagram: @doctorradhika
Twitter: @RadhikaThakrar
New episodes out every Tuesday!
This week I’m joined by the incredibly driven Dr Priyadarshini Marathe, consultant in Emergency Medicine, who shares the challenges she encountered when she moved across the world in 2013 to work in the NHS. She teaches us about her experiences with the 3 stages of culture shock as an international medical graduate and how she overcame them to become a consultant through the CESR pathway.
We learn about her impactful work on gender equality and equity in emergency medicine so far, and her vision for the future. Her Marvel Universe inspired approach to emergencies and point of care ultrasound are novel and creative. Finally, her advice on maintaining productivity across a wide range of endeavours and how to choose your mentors is essential listening for students and doctors at any stage of training.
Where you can find Dr Priyadarshini Marathe:
Twitter - @priyamarathe10
LinkedIn - Priyadarshini Marathe
Where you can find Dr Radhika Thakrar:
Email: doctorradhika28@gmail.com
Instagram: @doctorradhika
Twitter: @RadhikaThakrar
New episodes out every Tuesday!
Dr Liz O’Riordan is a consultant breast surgeon who was forced to retire early after being diagnosed with breast cancer twice. In this episode we discuss her journey to becoming a breast surgeon and the challenges she faced as a woman in surgery. Liz shares the story of her cancer diagnosis, treatment and her experience on the both sides of the doctor-patient relationship. We touch on how her practice changed after her diagnosis and the impact we have on our patients.
Where you can find Dr Liz O'Riordan:
Website - liz.oriordan.co.uk
Twitter - @Liz_ORiordan
Instagram - @oriordanliz
Liz's podcast - Don’t Ignore The Elephant
Liz's book - The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer
Liz's memoir – Under The Knife https://unbound.com/books/under-the-knife
10% Discount code for listeners SHESTHEDOCTOR10 – valid until July 16th
Where you can find Dr Radhika Thakrar:
Email: doctorradhika28@gmail.com
Instagram: @doctorradhika
Twitter: @RadhikaThakrar
New episodes out every Tuesday!
