The Adventurous Path – with Dr Lizzie Thorne

For Dr Lizzie Thorne, her post-F2 years have been about the adventurous path; broadening her skill set, adventure and enriching her life prior to Core Surgical Training. In years gone by this would have seemed like an incredibly maverick thing to do, but Lizzie discusses how taking a non-standard path has helped her and how it is now viewed by her senior colleagues.

Lizzie is a Junior Doctor who’s built expedition medicine into her career including an interest in sports and exercise. You can find her on Instagram as @theadventuredoctor

In this episode, hosted by Dr Will Duffin, we discuss:

• Some of her highlights of working out in Fiji with Bear Grylls and examples of some of the medical care she’s delivered in extreme environments.
• What are the key attributes of a good expedition medic?
• How and why Lizzie escaped the London medical career treadmill and her top tips for other medics who want to follow the same path.
• How Lizzie has juggled her overseas trips with her hospital rota.
• How to evaluate an expedition opportunity as a medic.
• Lizzie’s plan for the future.
• Why Lizzie believes we should all never stop dreaming and be kind to one another.

More about Lizzie:

She graduated from St George’s medical school in London in 2017 and is now in her F4 year, having just applied for core surgical training. Lizzie is currently working in the Emergency Department in George in the Western Cape of South Africa

Lizzie has provided medical cover on the following events:
Ultra Marathon: Sri Lanka – race medic
Ultra Marathon: Jordan – race medic
Adventure Race, Eco Challenge, WEM: FIJI – race medic
Surgical Charity Simons Mango Tree: Ghana – Surgical junior
Just Challenge WWF Charity Hike: Vietnam – challenge medic

She was also a member of the WEM medical team for filming of The Worlds Toughest Race with Bear Grylls out in Fiji.

Links:
https://medicfootprints.org/expedition-medicine-the-exciting-adventure-of-keeping-ultrarunners-alive/
https://www.instagram.com/theadventuredoctor