a letter from issy marks

It’s a bit late now, but Happy New Year! I hope you are all feeling positive, in times of political turbulence we have to work together more than ever, and keep working for the most vulnerable people in the world.

I am very sorry to let you all know that I have stepped down as Medsin National Directer for the rest of the term.  As many of you know, the ND role used to be a sabbatical and paid role, but Medsin has not had the resources to sustain this for the past two years. For me, the financial strain of maintaining the ND role and completing my degree without time to supplement my income has been too much. But not to worry, Medsin has one of the strongest national committees that we’ve seen in years, and under the leadership of our new ND, Ben, I am convinced that this is the best decision for the network, and for the future of Medsin.

As a parting gift, I would like to share with you some of my Medsin highlights, in the hope that it encourages you to just give it a go, and see where it can take you.

1. Running GHC at Barts, April 2014- with some familiar Medsin faces (Alex Oti, Sarah Kaay and Haniah Patanker to name some) we ran a fantastic GHC on universal health coverage and innovation. It was incredible going from knowing nothing about Medsin to hosting such a big event, seeing students as passionate about global health as I was tweeting our speakers and engaging in our events. We all got a massive buzz from it, and relaunched Medsin Barts to new success the following autumn.

2. IFMSA GA Taiwan summer 2014 – doing a preGA in Global Surgery and meeting so many incredible and inspiring people changed my life for good!

3. Being Medsin Barts co-pres with Haniah Patankar and getting over 100 people at our events!

4. Coordinating IFMSA Global Surgery – leading an international student team and building it into a strong and independent network, collaborating with organisations in its own right.

5. Attending the World Health Assembly 2015 with IFMSA – seeing global health diplomacy happen at the highest level, and being a part of it.

6. BeyondBORDERS 2016 – our incredible and award winning global surgery conference, run by the Medsin Global Surgery Working Group and attended by over 300 keen students and surgical trainees.

7. Working on The Advocate with Yue Guan, Lucy Singh and Lizzy Morgan!

8. Being National Director, leading the network and working with my incredible National Committee.

Medsin is a place where anything is possible, and I encourage all of you to get stuck in! We all have a part to play, but none of us should play it alone. A network builds skills, builds relationships, builds ideas and creates opportunities – use it!

Medsin love to you all,

Issy