A Consultant Gastroenterologist, and Healthcare Leader, Dr Smita Halder is an experienced physician with a background in academia, clinical and administration. Smita is a Master Certified Physician Development Coach with a passion for unlocking the potential amongst fellow physicians.

Please describe your journey since leaving Bury Grammar School (BGS) and how you progressed to your current position. 

After leaving Bury Grammar School in 1988 I went to Cambridge University to study medicine. It was because of the encouragement from the teachers at BGS that I even considered applying to Cambridge at all. 

I graduated in 1994 and started my internal medicine training, then had to decide what specialty to enter. 

I found my real interest was in gastroenterology, which is the study of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract or gut. Once I'd finished my rotations in gastroenterology back in Manchester, there was an opportunity to study in Toronto, Canada and I moved over here in 2008. The plan was to stay a year, then return to Manchester as a consultant. But things happen in life, and I met my now husband, and had an opportunity to apply for a job at McMaster University. 

It’s been 15 years, and I have never looked back! Toronto and Canada are now my new home, although I miss Manchester and my friends still living there very much.  

What does your role involve, what is an average day like for you? 

The average day for me is very, very unpredictable and I think most physicians would say the same. My job is full time and varied. When I'm on call, it's full on, I don't have time to stop. I'm in the hospital and I'm on call overnight, day and night. The rest of the time I'm seeing patients in the outpatient clinic, and performing procedures called endoscopies. Another large part of my job is teaching. 

In the last year, I have taken on a senior physician leadership role, and this takes up half my week now. 

It gives me the opportunity to work alongside the administrators to ensure that we're following best practices and delivering the highest quality of patient care.  

What skills do you consider to be essential for the role?  

I think the most important skill is being an empathic listener because that is what I do for much of the day: I'm listening to my patients' concerns; I'm listening to my team that I work with. Obviously, you have to be clinically extremely competent and know your job and your specialty really well.  Then on the teaching side, keeping up to date with all the new and latest advances in medicine and research. For my administrative role, it’s being on top of how a hospital functions, for example knowing how Governance works. You must be able to work with a huge variety of people from diverse backgrounds, from one day to the next. Knowing how to relate to different types and groups of people is a huge skill.  

What do you like most about your job?  

I think the variety has always been number one, because you can never predict what you're going to face when you come into work as a doctor. I feel a great sense of reward from helping people; we see people at the worst times in their lives, especially when we're giving them devastating news. It is the utmost privilege of being there at their most vulnerable, but also being that person that can help them get better is a real honour.  

Advice for current students when planning their future? 

It’s hard to know exactly what you want to do as a career in your late teens. I would say to reflect on your strengths, think about what brings you energy- is it art and creativity, or the logic of science? 

Go and speak to Career Advisors, or even somebody who's just started the course you’re interested in. Work shadow someone in that job if you can. 

I also believe that there are occupations that haven’t even been invented yet but will exist in the future. So, keep your mind open to all opportunities. 

Your proudest professional achievement? 

Completing my PhD. I was working clinically whilst doing it, which was extremely difficult; sometimes I'd have to finish a night on call with no sleep, go home and start writing up my thesis. But I managed to get it in on time and passed the viva! 

How did BGS help you become successful? 

The support and the self-belief I received from BGS helped me immensely. For me, being in a class of all girls, it was a given that we could do anything we set our minds on. There were no gender stereotypes. 

We were equally encouraged to pursue a career in science or arts.  

Your abiding memories of BGS? 

My memories of Bury Grammar School have always been very warm, and happy ones. I met some of my closest friends to date at BGS, now in our 50s, I'm still in touch with them and every time I go back to Manchester we meet up. I still remember the amazing productions the Drama and Music teachers put on every year - they were so professional.