Hi everyone!

I’m Sonali, and I’m running for KCL Ophthalmology Soc Academic Officer! As someone who is incredibly interested in ophthalmology and strongly considering it as a specialty, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being part of this society so far– I really want to encourage other students to get involved, whether or not they’re actively considering a career in ophthalmology.

 I am running for this position because I am passionate not only about the specialty, but about teaching. As a general member of the committee, I would want to boost interest in the speciality and draw even more people into the society – through my role, I would work closely with the rest of the committee to promote greater understanding of ophthalmology. I believe one good way to increase our presence is by having more events such as quiz nights throughout the year, which have the potential to be both academically stimulating and social!

As Academic Officer, my main priorities would be:

1.  Coming up with various sessions to promote understanding of the speciality

I would work to organise revision/MCQ sessions, particularly targeted towards Stage 2 and beyond, also aiming to collaborate with other academic societies, such as KCL MERJ. This year, I found the PT sessions very useful –, as someone who has experience delivering teaching, I would want to be as involved in running these sessions as possible

And high yield topics for progress tests would be prioritised. Alongside these sessions, I would look to invite guest speakers for general interest talks, and these would be open to anyone in the KCL community.

1. Highlighting the Duke Elder exam opportunity

Another opportunity to draw in more people interested in the specialty would be to have a session to go through the Duke Elder exam, which is a great opportunity for medical students but may not be widely known about. I would want to have a session explaining what the exam is and go through some of the questions that could come up – even if you don’t necessarily want to do the exam, this would be a great learning experience and act as a revision session nonetheless!

Thanks for reading this - I hope you’re interested in the points I raised in my manifesto and would love to have your vote!