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<\/strong><\/p>\nI first started at RCH in 2003 as a junior resident, back in the old hospital.\u00a0 I was very excited to be starting a paediatric career; I had known I wanted to be a paediatrician for a long time.\u00a0 I completed my paeds training in the RCH \/ Monash program, before starting a PhD based at RCH.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been working as a consultant in General Medicine since 2010.\u00a0 Since 2014, I\u2019ve been the Clinical Lead of Short Stay and have recently been appointed as the Director of General Medicine.<\/p>\n
What does International Women\u2019s Day mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n To me, International Women’s Day means striving towards a more inclusive world. On International Women’s Day we focus on gender, but we should recognise lack of equality exists in so many domains: including race, religion, disability, sexuality. It is about acknowledging that diversity, in all facets, is a strength, not a weakness.<\/p>\n On International Women’s Day, we should consider what we all can do \u2013 women and men – as individuals or in collaboration to make change.\u00a0 It reminds us that we all need to use our voices to empower others.<\/p>\n Which women are you inspired by (past or present)?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m inspired by all the women who have paved the way, who allow us to keep tapping on (and sometimes smashing) the glass ceiling.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a long list of women I admire, but some have stood out to me recently.\u00a0 I saw Malala Yousafzai (the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize) speak recently, and was blown away by her intelligence and courage as she advocated for the right of all girls to receive an education (130 million girls internationally are denied the right to an education).\u00a0 Her children\u2019s book \u201cThe Magic Pencil\u201d is a favourite of my three boys.<\/p>\n I admire Gillian Triggs, who stands up for what is right regardless of the political pressures and the cost to herself.<\/p>\n I admire Jacinda Ardern.\u00a0 She is the epitome of combining a successful and unique career with motherhood, as well as publicly flipping the traditional gender roles in her family.\u00a0 It is impossible not to look at her and think\u2026 \u201cwell\u2026 if she can do it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m inspired by my patients and their families\u2026 but that is not limited to women!<\/p>\n I\u2019m inspired by my nieces.\u00a0 They are all intelligent and kind young women with a fierce sense of social justice (well\u2026 the youngest is only one year old\u2026 but I\u2019m sure she will, too!)\u00a0 When I have (on occasion) had to have a difficult conversation about gender equity or sexism, I think of them.<\/p>\n And, of course, I\u2019ve been inspired by my mum, who retired as a pharmacist last year.\u00a0 She gave me the love and upbringing to allow me to take on the challenge of having both a successful career and family.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t possibly pay her back, so I simply hope to pay it forward.<\/p>\n What is one of your greatest achievements?<\/strong><\/p>\n Undoubtedly my family \u2013 we have three boys aged 8, 5, and 3.\u00a0 They make my world sparkle.\u00a0 We also have a daughter who died when she was one day old and we try to do our part to create a world that she could have happily grown up in.<\/p>\n Career-wise, I was particularly proud of the research that I did during my PhD.\u00a0 I was completely na\u00efve when I started my PhD (I\u2019d never done any research before), but the study we performed ended up having an impact on the fluid given to hospitalised children around the world.<\/p>\n More recently, I was thrilled to be appointed as the first female Director of General Medicine.<\/p>\n And what are you hoping one of your next achievements will be?<\/strong><\/p>\n Given I was only appointed as Director of General Medicine a few weeks ago\u2026 I\u2019m going to take a breath!\u00a0 After that, I\u2019m really looking forward to delivering on my vision for the department, which aligns with RCH\u2019s aim of delivering Great Care, Everywhere<\/em>.<\/p>\n What are different ways you like to empower women in your everyday life?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have always loved to mentor junior doctors. I hope that I empower them by being honest about my own journey \u2013 the good and the bad.\u00a0 Too often senior doctors are put on pedestals, and no-one is really sure how they \u201cdo it all.\u201d\u00a0 I talk about the times that work and my patients have completely devastated me, the times I\u2019ve wanted to quit, imposter syndrome, as well as the joy I get from work.\u00a0 I talk about having children and a career – juggling, outsourcing (all the outsourcing), the many people I turn to for support.\u00a0 I talk about getting things wrong.\u00a0 And I also talk about the happiness and privilege that I feel to have these opportunities.<\/p>\n I also hope that I empower women by continuing to be authentic \u2013 for the most part, that means being kind and friendly and enthusiastic.\u00a0 I hope I show people that these are not \u201csoft\u201d leadership traits.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to stomp on people or change your personality to be respected.<\/p>\n If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would be?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019d tell myself to enjoy the moment and not spend so much time wondering and worrying about what lies ahead.\u00a0 I\u2019d also tell myself to have courage to speak my mind without wondering whether people may think differently of me.<\/p>\n I\u2019d also say to take opportunities, even if they were not part of the original life-plan.\u00a0 All of the most memorable bits came from venturing off the well-beaten path.<\/p>\n What would you say to younger women (or those looking for a career change) aspiring to go in to medicine?<\/strong><\/p>\n I love my career but it has been a long and difficult journey.\u00a0 It is not a decision to take lightly, you need to love it enough to get through the tougher times.\u00a0 That said, I think it\u2019s a wonderful job, and a true privilege; ultimately, I\u2019d say go for it!<\/p>\n What is your favourite RCH memory?<\/strong><\/p>\n It has really been a fun and crazy journey.\u00a0 Most of my favourite memories have involved patients, so I can\u2019t really give details!<\/p>\n One I can share is a Christmas Day that I was working. My family surprised me by turning up on the ward.\u00a0 We tracked down Santa (who was touring the hospital) before my family headed off to lunch.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also loved having the opportunity to send my children to the staff childcare \/ kindergarten.\u00a0 It is incredibly convenient to be able to pop downstairs to breastfeed when you\u2019re trying to juggle both work and family!\u00a0 I\u2019ve bonded with many other RCH mums in the feeding room!\u00a0 I also have wonderful memories of joining my children on \u201cexcursions\u201d from the hospital kinder to book launches with celebrities, bush kinder in Royal Park, and the micro lab where they grew bacteria from their hand prints on petri dishes (ewww).<\/p>\n How do you think medicine has changed\/progressed over time and how would you like to see it change\/progress in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n Obviously the clinical progress has been enormous so to briefly encapsulate all the changes \u2013 even since I became a doctor – would be impossible.\u00a0 My grandpa, who died last year, had a partial paralysis for almost his entire life after contracting polio as a young child.\u00a0 Polio has now been eliminated in Australia due to vaccinations.<\/p>\n I think our care has become more child-and-family-centred.\u00a0 It was relatively recent history when parents weren\u2019t allowed to stay with their children while they were in hospital.\u00a0 Now the majority of our patients stay in single rooms and we actively encourage family involvement.<\/p>\n Thanks to the internet, I believe patients and their families have better access to information about their health.\u00a0 This enables really robust conversations, and allows them to actively participate in their care.<\/p>\n I hope our future involves better health equity, particularly with our indigenous population and internationally.<\/p>\n I believe the future of health care is exciting! I\u2019m particularly interested in the exponential increase in the genetic information that\u2019s available now, and the progress that is being made in this field. I\u2019m also excited about the increasing impact that technology will have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today we hear from Dr Sarah McNab, a paediatrician, a parent and the first woman at The Royal Children’s Hospital to be named Director of General Medicine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":7371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8971,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7370"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7396,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7370\/revisions\/7396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}