There is an ongoing and unmet need for transplant surgeons, especially those with an academic interest. There is an opportunity for those with appropriate academic skills to have a high degree of autonomy in determining there career trajectory and the nature and scientific content of their permanent post.

Important skills

On the clinical side, a broad range of surgical skills and an aptitude for technically challenging surgery are essential in this specialty. A high degree of understanding of relevant allied medical specialties - such as nephrology, hepatology or cardiology – are also invaluable. The ability to work in a multidisciplinary clinical team comprising transplant surgeons, physicians and clinical scientists is important too. For an academic career, a keen interest and background in immunology is essential and other basic sciences will be relevant in some research areas. In addition to all of that, a good appreciation of the complex ethical issues involved in both treating patients and carrying out research is vital.

Rewards

This area of medicine has direct clinical relevance and provides an opportunity to combine practical surgical and medical skills with basic laboratory science. Practitioners are literally dealing with life saving technology, which is topical and involves cutting edge areas of immunology and stem cell medicine. There are many fundamental questions still to be answered, requiring a high degree of interaction with clinical and scientific colleagues in other areas.