This week spoke to Fawad Hussain, a dermatology consultant who recently took on a new role in our Trust, as Site Medical Director at King George Hospital.

Age: 40

Lives: In Hornchurch with his wife and two sons aged six and two-months-old.

And: Medicine was certainly in his genes – his father and three older siblings all went into medicine before him. And his wife is a GP.

Did you always want to be a doctor?

I come from a family of doctors, my dad and all my siblings are doctors so I didn’t know anything else. However, I love being a doctor and I would absolutely do it again.

Tell us more about your career so far

I lived in Saudi Arabia until I was 17 and then moved to Pakistan to go to medical school.

To get experience working in the UK, I did a three-week clinical attachment at King George Hospital in 2004. I found it quite challenging because I couldn’t do any clinical work as I had to observe, so I felt a bit useless.

My first job in the UK was in Hull as a senior house office in oncology. I enjoyed it, however I worked with a lot of end of life and palliative care patients, which was difficult to see.

I did some other rotations before moving to Scotland to do core medical training and worked in various departments, including neurology and neurosurgery, acute medicine and cardiology. After that I got a specialty registrar post in dermatology – having not decided on my specialism until right at the last minute.

Once I’d chosen my specialism, I did four further years training in dermatology as specialty registrar in Aberdeen. I got my certificate for completion of training in dermatology in August 2012. Then I joined our Trust as a locum consultant dermatologist, before beginning my substantive consultant role here in April 2013.

We hear you met your wife while on the job….?

It was on an acute medicine ward when I was working in Hull. I was a senior house officer and my now-wife was in her first foundation year of her training. We met at handover when I was finishing and she was starting a night shift and she asked for my number.

Tell us more about your career at our Trust, and your new role

When I first joined it was very busy and challenging, however, I enjoyed it as everyone was very helpful.

I was clinical lead for dermatology from 2015 to 2018, during that time I completed my MSc in healthcare leadership. In June 2018 I took on the role of associate medical director and responsible officer for our Trust, until this new opportunity came up and I applied for it.

I really enjoy working with Magda, our Chief Medical Officer’s team here and, as I care about the welfare of all our staff, I saw this new role as an opportunity to make a difference on an organisational and system-wide level.

It’s a really exciting time for our Trust too, as we move towards an integrated care system, which King George Hospital will play a huge role in.

I’m looking forward to representing King George Hospital across the local healthcare system and hope to also work with colleagues to improve their working lives, as well as provide even better patient care.

What do you like best about being a doctor?

Being able to make a difference to people’s lives is very important to me. As doctors, we try to make the world a better place and my role gives me an opportunity to improve people’s lives.

Do you have any memorable patients from your career?

One has stayed in my mind since I was a junior doctor. He was just 28 and died of bowel cancer. It was already quite advanced when diagnosed. I think he has stayed with me because he was so young, just a bit older than me when he passed away.

What are you most proud of?

It was a team effort, however, when I was clinical lead for dermatology, we were nominated for a PRIDE award two years running, and won once for being the most innovative service.

What do you like doing when you’re not at work?

I enjoy spending time with my family. Although this time around, with the new baby I am finding it much harder – it must be because I’m older!

I also like to unwind by watching a movie or a series on Netflix.