With the possible exception of Schrodinger’s cat, there can be few who have yet to be touched by her social media presence where she is nothing less than a force of nature.
For over a decade, Rhea has driven the agenda for change by promoting equity and diversity issues in Surgery. The results have impacted not only on women in Surgery but also on those from minority ethnic backgrounds. Despite all this she is without doubt a very reluctant interviewee. Even now she is still not convinced that her story is one the wider international surgical community is eager to hear. But we have agreed to differ on this point.
I start our meeting with a confession. I admit to having been a little duplicitous by engaging a mutual friend to gently cajole her into agreeing to this interview. In reality, I think she has already rumbled me but has the good grace not to say so. In fact, she’s only just in time for our scheduled meet – having spent the three previous hours in theatre with an emergency laparotomy and from which she is still ‘buzzing’. After 15 years as a Consultant surgeon she still finds the experience both exhilarating and professionally satisfying. It is a reminder that despite the heavy social media presence Rhea is still very much a ‘jobbing’ surgeon with a busy ‘day job’ and a 1:6 emergency on-call rota to contend with.
As it transpires the label refers not to a predilection for wearing ‘scrubs’ but an unflattering reference (she thinks) to her short stature or alternatively the answer to a cryptic crossword clue she and friends once struggled with on the back row of a lecture theatre whilst studying Medicine in Auckland! Rhea had very much planned a career as a General Practitioner (Family Medicine) feeling it played to her communication strengths - a skill that has certainly not been wasted or gone unnoticed in the surgical arena.
Much of Rhea’s achievements in the field of equality and diversity promotion have come through her involvement with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeon’s (RACS) Operating with Respect Education Committee (and of which she is the immediate past Chair). Her interests in the field however predates her committee membership by some years. Rhea established an interest in Medical and Surgical Education – perhaps stimulated by the perceived ‘cognitive dissonance’ in surgical teaching methodology – which spurred her on to post-graduate qualifications in the field. She became an instructor and then Director of the CCrISP course (Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient) as well as becoming responsible for the delivery of the surgical curriculum at the newly established Bond Medical School.
Based on her thesis it candidly examined the reasons why women left surgical training – and at an alarmingly higher rate than their male counterparts.
Did she ever contemplate leaving surgical training? At least twice. The first was after the birth of her son in an early part of her surgical training. At a time when flexible training had yet to emerge even as a concept and working hours remained medieval, there was the inevitable guilt that comes with the “balance of being full time surgeon and full-time Mother”. Rhea admits that things are a little easier now for her – not least because said baby is now at University! The second time was as she approached the end of training and approaching the Australian equivalent of the surgical ‘exit’ exam. She was undermined, belittled, disparaged and derided by a senior Consultant entrusted with her training. Although she doesn’t use the word ‘bullied’ there can be little doubt that the actions amounted to this. Her chances of successfully achieving the necessary academic goal was openly mocked. Rhea is (by her own admission) nothing if not ‘stubborn’ and true to form hurdled this final academic milestone with ease. She has no interest in naming names but her story will be a depressingly familiar one to many. It represents the vestigial and shameful remnants of a damaged training scheme where individuals in authority held draconian sway over individual careers and against which there was no right of appeal. Although training environs have clearly improved Rhea argues there are still the day to day micro-aggressions which women and those from ethnic minority backgrounds contend with on-a-daily basis.
Has this left a simmering discontentment at these past injustices? Surprisingly no – just a desire to make a difference for the next generation of trainees. Has it changed her? No – at least not outwardly. She has the same interests in baking (we have a shared passion for egg tarts) the sharing of recipes and crochet, that she ever did. In fact (and for some years prior to her Twitter account reaching over 15,000 followers) trainees in difficulty were often advised to look out for the ‘crochet lady’ at surgical meetings. Having identified her, there came the casual introduction followed by the inevitable heart to heart about training related problems.
What are her greatest professional achievements to date? These are much easier to extoll. All surgeons now undergo on-line training in issues relating to equality and diversity and this fundamental learning exists today only because of the unrelenting drive of the Operating with Respect Committee at the RACS. There are more in-depth and nuanced face-face training for all those more senior surgeons involved with training roles. The ‘RACS Speak Up’ App (available in both Android and iOS) is freely available to download and whilst it was originally intended to complement formal training it remains a valuable stand-alone resource for those who find themselves in the position of having to have ‘difficult’ conversations. Rhea herself has contributed to a wide variety of other social media sites on the theme of equality and diversity and this includes the famed ‘The Theatre’ podcast which was run by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. More recently she has contributed to the Diversity review at the RCS England which was Chaired by Baroness Kennedy.
What does the future hold for Rhea? She is unlikely ever to be able to divest herself of her pre-eminent role in improving equity in surgical training (nor would she want to) but I suspect there is a deep-seated hope that one day (but probably not very soon) that it will not be necessary and she will be able, at last, to return to using her Twitter account just to share recipes again! In the meantime, her newly appointed role as Sub-Dean for Medicine at Bond Medical School is likely to keep her busy inspiring a new generation of clinicians whilst secretly perfecting the recipe for egg tarts.
Interview by Tim Lane
