So You Want to Be A Doctor: Dr. Alison Harris talks the Nitty-Gritty of Each Step to Become a Doctor, What Students Should Do To Succeed in Medicine, and her Path in Radiology from the UK to Canada
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Google Podcasts, or on your favourite podcast platform. You can watch the conversation on YouTube here.
“Look for opportunities. Look for opportunities that are out there, take those opportunities and figure out if it's something that's going to work for you, and if it's going to benefit you. I've always put myself forward and volunteered to be on committees, to take on different projects - it's not always worked out, but it has led me into some very exciting projects and groups.”
- Alison Harris
Dr. Alison Harris is an abdominal radiologist in Vancouver, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Science with honours, a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, and Doctor of Medicine, having received her medical degree in the UK before moving to Canada.
During her medical training in the UK, Dr. Harris completed an internship at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Leicester General Hospital, as well as a radiology residency at St. Mary's Hospital, London. At Vancouver General, she completed a sub-specialty radiology fellowship in the Abdominal Imaging and Intervention department and, in 2007, she became Medical Head of the Abdominal Division.
Dr. Harris is a past president of the British Columbia Radiological Society and current secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Association of Radiologists. She is also vice president of the Vancouver Medical, Dental and Allied Staff Association and the Vancouver Physician Staff Association. Dr. Harris is a clinical associate professor and Abdominal Fellowship Director at the University of British Columbia, has authored or co-authored over 60 research publications, and is a winner of the UBC Burhenne Scholarship Award in Radiology.
Note: this episode was recorded in fall 2021.
SCROLL BELOW FOR VIDEO, AND A NOTE FROM VITA…
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Google Podcasts, or on your favourite podcast platform. You can watch the conversation on YouTube here.
Vita’s Personal Learnings
When should you know if you want to pursue medicine? At what point do you have to choose a specialty? What’s a multi-disciplinary case round?
My parents are doctors, so I thought I would be decently well-prepared for this interview with Dr. Harris. It took about two minutes talking with her for me to realize that I had a very superficial understanding of the complex path from high school student to fully-fledged doctor. I think it’s rare to get the chance to hear someone who’s done it really break down each step, from volunteering in high school - where to volunteer, what kind of opportunities to sign up for - to how you choose your specialty in university, to what your day-to-day looks like in a residency or fellowship at a hospital.
My parents also moved from the UK to Canada as doctors, so again, I thought I’d be prepared for Dr. Harris to talk about the differences between the two. But the level of nuance she brings was very interesting to me in understanding what it was like for my parents to uproot from the UK and begin practicing in Canada. It will be especially helpful for that huge subgroup of Canadian students who need to decide whether to stay in Canada or study in the UK.
Towards the end of the interview, I asked Dr. Harris about misconceptions in medicine, and about patterns she’s seen in successful students. Listen to the episode to hear what she says, and her advice for students. Her message is fundamentally that you should say yes to opportunities, but there’s some interesting nuance she provides around what you should say yes to, and where to seek out opportunities in medicine.
