Let's Talk Surgery Podcast, Surgical Crossroads: Choosing your specialty - the Cardiothoracic episode

In this Surgical Crossroads episode of the Let’s Talk Surgery podcast, hosts speak with cardiothoracic surgeons Sridhar Rathinam, Gill Hardman, and Edward Caruana about their career journeys and insights into this demanding specialty. Sridhar, a consultant thoracic surgeon and educational leader, shares his lifelong passion for surgery and teaching. Gill, a registrar pursuing a PhD in transplantation, discusses her interest in surgical psychology and training. Edward, nearing the end of his training, entered the field by chance and now champions maximizing learning opportunities.

The conversation highlights the specialty’s challenges—such as work-life balance, perceptions, and diversity—while affirming the deep commitment and fulfilment it brings. Their collective advice: start early, seek exposure, and actively connect with the cardiothoracic community. 

Hosted by Greg Ekatah, Sesi Hotonu and Sadie Khwaja produced and directed by Heather Pownall of Heather's Media Hub Ltd. 

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Chapters

• 1:04 Introducing the topic and guests for this episode.
• 3:32 [Sadie Khwaja – Sridhar Rathinam] Let's start with Sridhar, how did you get into cardiothoracic, what was the path and why cardiothoracic for you?
• 4:32 [SK – SR] What's the thoracic surgeons day-to-day? What are the highlights and where are the challenges?
• 5:54 [SK – SR] And looking back now you're an established thoracic surgeon, what's the challenges you've had getting to where you have?
• 9:18 [SK – SR] It really brings in the question of diversity with you saying you were challenged by coming from abroad to work here. How do you see the present state in terms of those kind of challenges?
• 11:55 [SK – Gill Hardman] Let's bring Gill in and get her experience of being a cardiothoracic registrar. Talk us through your kind of journey.
• 12:34 [Sesi Hotonu – GH] Maybe you could also enlighten us on what a cardiac surgeon actually does?
• 18:27 [SH – Edward Caruana] What was your journey into cardiothoracics?
• 20:20 [SH – EC] You might be the perfect person to answer this question, because you kind of fell into it a little bit by accident; what sort of hoops does one have to jump through to successfully gain a training number in cardiothoracics?
• 22:20 [SK – EC] What advice, would you give some somebody who's starting out?
• 23:53 [SK – EC] Gill mentioned other allied specialties you can consider, such as cardiology, respiratory and using those avenues [to gain experience]. What do you think about that?
• 28:33 [SH – SR] So speaking of teamwork, if I come to you, Sridhar, what is the ‘day in the life’ because you mentioned a bit about oncology and some of the things you did in your practice as a thoracic surgeon.
• 33:18 [SR] Advice for getting into cardiothoracic surgery.
• 39:20 [SK – GH] Gill, do you feel like you'll still be opening those chests in 20 years’ time, or will it be robotics and so forth?
• 42:02 [SK – GH] It comes to that question, do you have a work life balance in the land of cardiothoracics?
• 43:42 [SK – EC] How do you feel Edward? How did you find getting through your training, and how did you achieve it?
• 47:31 [SH – GH] Gill, you've been out of programme doing a PhD. Has COVID changed any aspect of that at all?
• 48:35 [SK – GH] And just touching on research, my personal feeling is it's a personal journey, and it's something that you want to do rather than a necessity to tick a box. Is that kind of how you feel in cardiothoracics?
• 50:15 [SK – EC] And what's your experience [of research] Edward?
• 52:10 [SH – All] We'll just do one last round robin, and you can only answer in one sentence. “The best thing about cardiothoracic is …”