Medicine (Graduate Course)

I'm a Consultant Nephrologist and Physician at the West Suffolk Hospital and Addenbrookes Hospital.  I was an undergraduate at Cambridge University and trained in East Anglia/ London.  I was the first substantive renal consultant at the WSH and my interest is in dialysis.  I have a strong interest in medical education including being a member of the Royal College of Physicians MRCP question writing group and an Educational/ Clinical supervisor for junior doctors.

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Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon CUH NHSFT (Facial deformity surgery, craniomaxillofacial trauma, paediatric maxillofacial surgery, dentoalveolar surgery and skin cancer of the head and neck).
Senior Anatomy Demonstrator at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience and Surgical Tutor for Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Surgical Tutors are responsible for providing leadership to surgical trainees in a trust or hospital, where they undertake a key role in supporting and demonstrating good governance of surgical training matters. The Surgical Tutor also provides a link to the relevant Regional Board for the RCS, where their role is to advise their Regional Director of service and educational issues affecting surgeons in their trust. The appointment is tripartite between the School, the trust and the RCS.

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Dr Katie Keller is a GP, and after five years as GP Tutor at The Postgraduate Medical Centre, is now leading the GP Training Hub which delivers and supports ongoing professional development for GPs and the primary care workforce across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Alongside her clinical work, Katie has completed a masters in medical education, and taught students in practice and at the university. She has worked as a GP partner in a leadership role, helping to shape the future development of services locally and meets regularly with consultant colleagues, professors at the university, and local health care leaders.

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Why did you decide to study Medicine?

There are very few degrees which place you in a privileged position in the care of people’s day to day living, and medicine allows you to take on the responsibility of helping patients navigate the complexities of their own health. Medicine is unique in combining this with leadership from the outset, plus of course the very tactile and hands-on practical side of managing patients.

And why Medicine at Cambridge?

Medicine is an exceptionally challenging course, particularly in terms of the volume of content. Cambridge’s college system really provides you with the close community that you need both academically and socially to feel supported whilst undertaking a course which is so intense. Cambridge is also a pretty, small, flat (good for cycling!), and well-connected city.

How did you find applying for your course?

Applications, interviews, and waiting to hear back will always be stressful, but the Lucy Cavendish admissions team were absolutely fantastic for helping clarify any questions that I had, and were exceptionally reassuring whenever I had any doubts or anxiety about satisfying the bureaucratic side of the application and acceptance process!

What has been great about your course so far?

The full-body dissection at Cambridge has been a real highlight; we’re all very grateful to the donors, and I can’t imagine ever having learnt anatomy without it.

How have you found the college system?

As mentioned above, the community that your college provides is invaluable. Importantly, it allows you to mix with lots of students from very different courses – this gives you a vital daily break from medicine! It’s also great to have a set of supervisors and staff who know you personally, which simply wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Of course, college rowing with the Lucy Cavendish Boat Club has also been a brilliant scene to get involved with!

What advice would you give to someone thinking of studying Medicine?

Really make sure you know why you’re applying! Try and speak to as many people working in the medical profession as you can about their day-to-day realities of practising medicine. Also pay attention to the course curriculums for whichever universities you are looking at, and the examination format. Especially if you are graduate-entry, you might be glad that most of Cambridge’s exams, at least in first year, are MCQ-based!

I’m a first-year medic on the graduate-entry course here at Lucy Cavendish. I came to Cambridge after completing my undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Oxford. Whilst I knew a little of what to expect in the way of the university’s collegiate system, starting out on another undergraduate degree in a completely new subject area was rather daunting at first. I applied to Lucy because it came across as both a welcoming and supportive learning environment, as well as a friendly place in which to live. Having grown up in Oxford too, this was my first time really moving away from my family and Lucy very quickly became the perfect home away from home. The light and airy college library is one of my favourite places in which to work and I really enjoy catching up with other students over lunch in Hall, after a busy morning of lectures in the department. I know that I’ve made some fantastic friends in the other medics at Lucy. In between lectures, supervisions and hospital placements, we spend a lot of time together. We look out for each other too, whether that’s getting together for a group study session in the library or a movie night in the lounge. Beyond college, I'm also involved with the university’s cross-country club, the Hare and Hounds, which has been a great way to explore some of the beautiful surrounding Cambridgeshire countryside.

I come from Lithuania. I went to high school in Italy and I did my undergraduate degree in Edinburgh. Lucy Cavendish College is my third home away from home. Studying Medicine in Cambridge is the most challenging experience of my life. However, living in Lucy Cavendish College creates many opportunities to make the work-life balance approachable. Rowing for Lucy Cavendish Boat Club makes me forget about the academic challenges in a healthy and fun way for several hours a week. And the rowing family is incredibly supportive and friendly. The library staff make sure we get some coffee, tea and biscuit fuelled study breaks and the guinea pigs are there for some pet therapy! The people you meet in College soon become your family who would do anything for you. After I graduate Medicine I will be a doctor in the NHS. However, the College provides support and guidance for those who would like to seek alternative careers.

Since 1981 Dr Webster has been self-employed as an itinerant pedagogue teaching a range of biological and biochemical subjects to a variety of students at a range of educational establishments.

He has taught A level Biology, firstly at some Cambridge private colleges e.g.C.C.S.S. and then for about 20 years at Hills' Road Sixth Form College. He was also a part-time Open University tutor/associate lecturer on 2nd and 3rd level courses and demonstrator, tutor, senior tutor and course director at O.U. Summer Schools for almost 30 years. 

Dr Webster is now retired from all but the supervising which he still does for Clare, Christ's, Robinson, St. Edmund's, Sidney Sussex and Lucy Cavendish so he is now in his 46th continuous year as a supervisor. Dr Webster has been supervising the single medic Lucy Cavendish then admitted (in what was a total intake in all subjects of 17) since about 1981 or thereabouts, and has continued to do so ever since (not forgetting the vets who came on board soon after).

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