Akilesh Rathinam

Hi, I'm Akilesh and I would love to be your Academic Officer for Clinical Years.

Clinical years are terrifying and exhausting. I think having consistent academic support, quite frankly seems to be the only thing keeping ICSM students sane sometimes. My 6-week surgical placement was the most exhausted I’ve ever felt. Trying to balance placement with studying along with societies, committee positions, research and more without any guidance or support is almost impossible.

Fortunately, one of ICSM’s most valuable resources is its students and their wealth of experience, which could lend very well to a mentoring scheme. Pairing 6^th years with 5^th years and 5^th years with 3^rd years could help make the transition from pre-clinical to clinical and from BSc back into Year 5 specialties, more approachable. Although mums and dads still exist, by the clinical years, most medic families don’t really exist anymore, and it can be difficult to find seniors to speak to for advice in such a wildly different learning setting.

With experience in medical education departments as a Medical Student Ambassador for GOSH, communicating with a wider team from my time at Teddy Bear Hospital and Paediatrics, organizing and coordinating academic events as a MedEd Phase 1b Crash Course Coordinator, or even the excessive number of emails I’ve sent to faculty about the course and what support could be implemented, I would love to be a part of the academic team for ICSMU.