COMMITTEE 2021/22

PRESIDENT

Aya Riad

Hi, I’m Aya and I’m ESSS president! I’m in fifth year and my job this year is to support our incredible committee in all the cool projects they’re running. I’m really passionate about making surgery more accessible to medical students and helping breakdown stereotypes people often associate with surgeons (we’re a 92% female committee!). I’m really excited about all the new initiatives we’re running this year, particularly the ESSS Guide to the Surgical Portfolio course we’re running in partnership with RCSEd. I’m particularly interested in global and academic surgery and am always very happy to be contacted if you have any questions!

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

Iz Summers

Hi, I’m Izzy, I’m a fifth year and I’m delighted to be ESSS Senior Vice President for 2021/22. I’m already so inspired by our excellent committee members, all of whom are working extremely hard to organise many great events for our students! My interests lie in ENT and plastic surgery, anatomy and surgical education. In my free time you’ll catch me running, doing yoga or watching Strictly Come Dancing!

JUNIOR VICE PRESIDENT

Jingjing Wang

Hiya! My name’s Jingjing Wang, a 3rd year Medical Student intercalating in Surgical Sciences. My primary interests lie in Paediatric and Orthopaedic surgery and research. This year, I’m excited to take on the role of Junior Vice President, organising and delivering the ESSS x RCSEd Surgical Careers Roadshow, amongst other events!

SECRETARY

Liza Chong

Hi, I’m Liza and I’m excited to continue my third year on the ESSS committee as secretary! I’m now a fourth-year medic, with my past year intercalating in Surgical Science in Edinburgh. I have interest in multiple surgical specialties, so don’t worry if you’re not set yet since that’s what our society is for! I’m passionate about teaching and am hoping to expand our support to more of you through our “ESSS Guide to the Surgical Portfolio” webinar series. I’m excited to restart our in-person events and to meet you all at our various new webinar series this year!

TREASURER

Violet Borkowska

Hi! My name’s Violet and I’m a 4th year medical student with a special interest in plastic surgery and research. This year I’m taking on the role of ESSS Treasurer, managing our finances and making sure we’re using our budget to the greatest benefit of our members. On top of that, I’m going to be organising the medical finances event as well as the intercalation evening. Looking forward to meeting you all!

PUBLICITY

Diana Meirinho Domingues

Hi! I’m Diana, a 3rd year medical student and aspiring Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Within ESSS, I’m the Publicity Officer - responsible for advertising all the brilliant events our society runs throughout the year, while co-leading some of the events myself. I’m really interested in research to enhance our current knowledge of medicine and surgery, as well as making surgery more accessible to everyone!

CONFERENCE CONVENORS

Magdalena Markiewicz

Beatrice Lofthouse

Hi, I am Magdalena, and I am delighted to take on the role of Conference Convenor this year. I am in my penultimate year and have previously completed an intercalated degree in Health Sciences. This is my second year on the ESSS committee, and I look forward to working with Beatrice to organise the 13th Annual Undergraduate Surgery and Trauma Conference. I am also excited to organise the Undergraduate Surgical Teaching Series and support students in learning surgical topics relevant to the Edinburgh Medical School curriculum and clinical year exams.

Hello! My name is Beatrice and I’m a third year medical student intercalating in Physiology. I first became interested in surgery as a result of attending ESSS events in my first year, and since then having been involved on committee as Publicity Manager and this year as Conference Convener. Alongside Magdalena, I will be planning, organising, and running the ESSS 13th Annual Undergraduate Surgery and Trauma Conference which will take place in 2022!

SURGICAL SKILLS MANAGERS

Sophia Wong

Usaamah Ramzan

Hi! I’m Sophia and I’m a 4th year medic at the University of Edinburgh. After intercalating in surgical sciences last year, I developed a deeper interest in surgery and suture techniques and would love to share that passion with others to make surgical careers as accessible as possible. In my free time, I like to knit, play video games and care for my fish.

I’m Usaamah and I’m currently in fourth-year. I’m the Surgical Skills Club manager along with Sophia. I spent third-year intercalating in Surgical Sciences and this gave me the desire to get more involved with the ESSS. I hope to improve my surgical skills and have a greater understanding of which aspects of surgery I enjoy. Outside of surgery, I enjoy playing sports and staying active.

OUTREACH CONVENOR

Luca Kovacs

Hi I’m Luca, a 3rd year Medical Student intercalating in Physiology and this year’s Outreach Convenor. I’m primarily interested in T&O and the potential stem cells have in the field of surgery. This year, I’m excited to be delivering outreach events to future medics, hopefully making applications and the transition less hard, along with helping out on some of our other events!

ACADEMIC TUTORIALS MANAGER

Juin Low

Hello guys! I am Juin, currently a 5th year medical student with a particular interest in Trauma & Orthopaedic surgery. I am delighted to be taking on the role of Academic Tutorials Manager as part of the ESSS committee this year. With a passion in teaching, I will work to bring you the usual high quality of revision materials as we have delivered in years before for both Year 4 and Year 5 students. As a special plan for the new academic year, I am further aiming to develop a mock OSCE session for early-year clinical school students, to help acclimate them to the new style of exam structure.

SPONSORSHIP MANAGER

Bethany Shiell

Hey! My name’s Bethany and this year I’m in charge of Sponsorship - we get a lot of help from companies to allow us to keep our prices low - but also they’re very kind and will often provide us with surgical equipment/ food/ discounts on their products! The reason I became interested in surgery was because I love doing practical things - and I totally geek out every time I’m in an operating theatre!

1ST YEAR REPRESENTATIVE

Jen Ola

Hi, my name is Jen, and I am very excited to be part of the committee this year 2021/22 as first year rep. I am here to promote and support ESSS in their ethos of creating an inclusive, interactive, and engaging surgical society. I will especially be encouraging us first year students to get involved in this exciting society. I also have a very keen interest in robotic and plastic surgery. I hope to encourage all those that have an interest in surgery and together we can learn from our peers. I look forward to meeting all of you in person/virtually at some of the great activities/sessions coming up!