I’m a mature medical student from Manchester and currently in my 3rd year, based at Manchester Royal Infirmary. My first degree was in Physiotherapy at the University of Liverpool. After working as a physiotherapist for a number of years, I began to feel that I wanted to do more for my patients and that a career in surgery was where my heart was, so I applied for the pre-med entry at Manchester and haven’t looked back since. I feel passionate about surgery and am similarly passionate about the under-representation of women in surgery and the need to increase the support for women considering a role in surgery. As vice-president of Scalpel, I hope to be able to address these issues and to provide our members with strong, female role-models.