Post by Zahra Ahmed

I have the had the incredible opportunity to complete a split elective with the Plastic Surgery and Craniofacial Surgery teams at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust and the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. I feel very fortunate to have spent time at such fantastic institutions and some highlights included: - Assissting in autologous microtia reconstructions and congenital hand surgeries including complex syndactyly release and further developing my surgical skills in the process with Mr Neil Bulstode and Bran Sivakumar - Observing complex craniofacial cases including facial bipartition, Graeme Glass - Having active involvement in cranial volume research with Juling Ong - Observing a variety of muscle and fasciocutaneous microsurgical flaps for the breast, lower limb and groin, Anita Mohan MBBS PhD MBA MRCS BSc ALCM Matthew Murphy - Contributing to sustainability research and attending the Stanford Clinical Excellence Summit focussing on sustainability with Paige Fox (McCarthy) I was also honoured to finish my US trip by presenting at the Plastic Surgery Research Council 71st Annual Meeting in Los Angeles on sustainability in hand trauma surgery 🌱🖐️. I am extremely grateful to my mentors for these special experiences which I will remember fondly.