SMSV held it’s first ever Medical Students’ Forum, entitled “The Road Ahead; Choices After Medical School”  on the 21st of August 2009 at the Alfred Hospital. This event was aimed to be an interactive dialogue session with a prominant clinician, where students had the opportunity to discuss topics concerning all aspects of life in the medical profession.

For our inaugural Forum, we invited Mr Peter Hwang, Clinical Directory of Neuro Surgery at the Alfred Hospital to talk about his experiences training and working in Neurosurgery. Mr Hwang has experiences working and living in numerous countries, including Singapore, Australia, UK, USA and Germany, and his insights were undoubtedly fascinating as well as valuable. He also shared various aspects of his personal life, focusing on the vaious difficult decisions he had to make with regards to leaving home to pursue a career overseas.

After his presentation, students were welcomed to chat with Mr Hwang over sushi, pizza and soft drinks, where he addressed any burning questions not touched on earlier.

Overall, Mr Hwang covered many extremely relevant issues related to both the professional and social aspect of life as a Neurosurgeon, not forgetting the practical and monetary conciderations of practicing in Singapore versus Australia. It was an exceptionally inspirational and eye-opening experience for all who attended!