Lahore, December 22, 2022 (PPI-OT):The contemporary trends in the medical training dictate that the medical schools around the globe focus on the essential medical knowledge, attitude, practical skills, guidance and counselling of their learners on career choices. In this regard, the University College of Medicine and Dentistry (UCMD) assists its medical students in choosing suitable majors and in aligning the direction of their careers.
UCMD recently organised an online webinar on “career counselling,” in which four well-placed of its alumni, namely Dr Aqib Javed, Dr Ayesha Hashmi, Dr M. Usman Ali, and Dr Nadia Aslam, shared their professional experiences with the continuing students and responded to their multiple questions about field dynamics. The webinar was organised by Prof Dr Samina Malik (HoD, Physiology, Chairperson of the Career Counselling Cell, and Student Wellbeing Committee.
Dr Javed, a graduate of 2016 and now an internal medicine trainee at University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, England, informed the students about the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) and UK residency pathway. He also explained how he bagged extra points in the competitive job market after doing quality control and audit programmes at his house job.
He differentiated between the United Kingdom Medical Licensing Assessment (UKMLE) and PLAB, stating the implication of UKMLE in 2024, and guided the students to take the PLAB 1 exam soon after their MBBS or during their house job. He also praised Dr Sikander Afzal (Associate Dean, UCMD) for his efforts to mentor young doctors at the University of Lahore Teaching Hospital (ULTH).
Dr Hashmi (a graduate of 2021 and pursuing postdoctoral studies in the USA since January 2022), Dr Ali (a Nephrology and Critical Care Medicine Fellow at the University of Toledo), and Dr Aslam (currently working as an academic hospitalist at Saint Medical Centre Toledo, Ohio) discussed the USMLE pathways, the importance of research, letters of recommendation (LOR), and electives.
They highlighted the differences in requirements between internal medicine, neurosurgery, and OB-GYN. To get better LORs, they advised students to reach out to different professors, shadow them, do externships, and keep their professional game on point. Prof Dr Shahid Mahmud Malik (Pro-Rector, Health Sciences) appreciated UCMD for arranging the webinar and pledged his utmost support for the conduction of similar events in the future.
For more information, contact:
The University of Lahore
1 – KM Defence Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-865-865, +92-42-35322501 +92-42-35321761
Email: info@uol.edu.pk
Website: www.uol.edu.pk