Fourteen years after leaving Westminster as a pupil, the School welcomed Dr Karan Rangarajan (LL 2003-2008) back to SW1 to talk about his journey from ‘Grant’s basement to the operating table’.

To an audience of aspiring medics from Westminster, Harris Westminster Sixth Form and The Grey Coat Hospital in September, Dr Rangarajan spoke about his days as a pupil, his experience at medical school, and his route to becoming an accomplished NHS surgeon and lecturer. He also spoke about a decade’s work leveraging the power of social media to teach, fascinate and entertain people all over the world using his medical knowledge.

Dr Rangarajan described his professional journey as a difficult one, saying “I have missed family celebrations, friends’ weddings and even my own birthday to become a surgeon…As I was starting out as a junior doctor, I was scheduled to work on my birthday. I came to the hospital at 8.00am thinking that I would have an easy day at the hospital, doing a four-hour surgery. At the time I was working with a really grumpy surgeon, and as I started to put on my scrubs the lead surgeon asked me if I’d had my breakfast, lunch and dinner.

As he proceeded to say that we would be at the operating table for at least 15 hours, my face just dropped. That day I had booked a dinner with my parents at 6.00pm in a nice restaurant and by 7.00pm I was still in the operating theatre, hallucinating. I knew I was hallucinating because I started hearing music, and I knew that the lead surgeon didn’t like listening to music whilst operating. I finished my day at 12.00am exhausted and regretting my life choices.”

At a time when pupils are starting to define their career ambitions and narrow their options through their A Level choices, Dr Rangarajan encouraged his audience to keep an open mind when thinking of future aspirations and to avoid fixed ideas, as serendipity can play a very important role in life too. He used himself as an example, mentioning the opportunities he has had to explore different interests and to express himself on social media. Although he had used social media for years, he had never thought of becoming an influencer; he now has six million followers across his channels. During the height of the pandemic, he started posting on TikTok as an outlet, in order to avoid burning out from work. One highlight from his social media career was doing a takeover of Boris Johnson’s snapchat account to talk about the benefits of the Covid vaccine.

Inspiring the pupils with his own life stories, Dr Rangarajan stressed the importance of soft skills, saying: “They will provide you with long-term value throughout your life”. Looking back at his experience in medical school, he reflected that having empathy and being a team player is as important as having the best medical knowledge in your field.

Temi (Sixth Form, LL) said: “I learnt that the road to medicine is equally demanding as it is rewarding. Medicine as a course and career is the epitome of delayed gratification and it is very important to have a ‘why’ when deciding to go down the journey to being a doctor. Saying that, I also learnt that medicine is very multifaceted, which could give me the chance, in the future, to specialise in something that really resonates with me, which I may not have even heard of yet.

“I really took inspiration from the moments in which Dr Raj was transparent about the hardships he faced along the journey into, during and after medicine. As mentioned, medicine is often glorified to the extent where the hard truths are overshadowed, so hearing what both sides of the coin look like from a doctor helped me understand what I may face but also fortified my belief that it’s still something I wish to do regardless. “

Louisa (Sixth Form, CC) said: “My biggest takeaway from the talk is that it’s essential to have extracurricular interests. As a surgeon, he explained that the only way to prevent burn out is having a hobby outside of medicine and academics. For example, sport, a musical instrument and a good support system.

“What I felt was most inspirational was his motivation to become a surgeon. A lot of his stories are very heart-warming, he really makes a difference in the lives of his patients, even if it is seemingly very small. This was significant because after all his hard work before, during and after medical school, this feeling, this ‘high’ of making a difference is what he went into medicine for. The reason this is inspiring for me is because it confirms that the hard work put in to becoming a doctor is worthwhile.”