Role Models: Adult Congenital Heart Disease

"The things I love about my job are the patients who are the true 'pioneers' of congenital surgery and also the team based approach that we have within our unit."

I have been a consultant cardiologist at the Queen Elizabeth hospital, Birmingham, since October 2014. I subspecialise in adult congenital heart disease and lead on our advanced disease and pulmonary hypertension programme within this field. I also continue to be part of the general cardiology on call rota. Prior to my consultant post I was a trainee within the West Midlands. I am a less than full time consultant and work 4 days a week.

The things I love about my job are the patients who are the true 'pioneers' of congenital surgery and also the team based approach that we have within our unit. I work within a team of four consultants and we are all very supportive of each other both professionally and personally.

During my training I completed an MD within the field of ACHD. I was awarded a BHF fellowship and completed this between my core and subspecialty training. Alongside my clinical work I am active in education and training. I have been the training programme director for cardiology in the West Midlands since 2017 and chair the training committee. I am also the LTFT speciality lead for cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery in the region. Since 2019 I have been a regional advisor for the Royal College of Physicians.

Outside of work I have two daughters who are at primary school and a husband who works full time. After a couple of years of being a consultant I actively reviewed my job plan to allow me a better work life balance. It doesn’t always work but on the whole I feel that I have a good balance. Working with the right colleagues is vital for this.