MEET THE TEAM PROFESSOR CAMILLA CARROLL RCSI COUNCIL MEMBER, CONSULTANT OTOLARYNGOLOGY HEAD AND NECK SURGEON Nationality: Irish Hobbies: Sailing, Reading and Yoga What advice would you give your younger self? “Dream big, work hard, always remain humble. Our patients are at the centre of everything we do” I am really pleased to introduce myself to our Affiliate Members and talk to you about my role as an RCSI Surgeon Educator, Examiner and RCSI Member of Council. My name is Camilla Carroll and I am a Consultant Otolaryngologist Head and Neck Surgeon at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin. From a very early age, I was fascinated with surgery. My dad was a neurosurgeon at the National Neurosurgical Centre in Dublin, having graduated from RCSI in 1960. So perhaps it was not too surprising, that I followed in his footsteps and studied medicine at RCSI, graduating with honours in 1985. I was soon followed by my 2 sisters, both of whom graduated from RCSI and are practicing physicians here in Dublin. As a surgical trainee in the mid 1980s and early 1990s, there were very few women in surgical training in Ireland or the UK. At postgraduate level, all of my surgical trainers and examiners were men. Now we have data to suggest, that a diverse surgical workforce is associated with better quality of patient care. Therefore as a Consultant Surgeon, I have worked closely with medical students at RCSI and TCD School of Medicine to showcase surgery as a career choice, while at the same time encouraging more women to look at the rewarding career opportunities associated with the “Life of a Surgeon”.
RCSI AWS Mentoring Saturday 2023
I have had the opportunity to serve as Faculty President with the RCSI Surgical Society and Association of Women Surgeons (AWS) and established the TCD AWS Chapter in 2019. During this time, the RCSI Affiliate Members Programme was established. This was a wonderful opportunity to develop a close connection between the student surgical societies and the Affiliate Programme. I believe, that the Affiliate programme will now play a crucial role in shaping the future engagement of our medical students and trainees with the RCSI Postgraduate Surgical Training Body, as they move closer to embarking upon a career in surgery.