Current position: Head, Department of Neurosurgery; Head, Department of Healthcare Accreditation – Hatyai Hospital, Songkhla, Thailand

What led you to study Clinical Education at Flinders University? Flinders University’s Discipline of Clinical Education is well known internationally and a Thai colleague of mine who visited Flinders suggested I contact Professor David Prideaux and Professor Jennene Greenhill who was the Director of the Masters course at the time. I quickly realised that the principles and approaches to Clinical Education at Flinders stand out from others and would be practical and of benefit to Thai educational and health contexts.

How did your time at Flinders University influence you both professionally and personally? I spent my valuable time at Flinders with Dr Koshila Kumar, the Masters course coordinator, and Dr Julie Ash, my co-supervisor based at Flinders Medical Centre. I recognised that a clinical education shaped me in terms of a professional educationalist with their support helping me to progressively learn and develop my qualitative research skills. Professor Lucie Walters, my principal supervisor who was based at Mount Gambier, also broadened my knowledge through a variety of experiences with her academic works. She was able to demonstrate how a doctor with a significant academic position maintained her work-life balance.

What are the three most important professional attributes that your Flinders degree equipped you with? Educative, qualitative, and collaborative are the key professional attributes and characteristics instilled during my time at Flinders.

How does your current career compare to the career/job aspirations you had as a child? Initially, I only thought about becoming a doctor to take care of patients. When I studied the Master of Clinical Education at Flinders University, I realised that I could do a great job as a change agent in terms of medical education in Thailand. The better the medical education, the more improved medical professional and patient outcomes are achieved.

What has been the greatest accomplishment of your career to date? Graduating the Master of Clinical Education by Research was my personal achievement because I conducted qualitative research which examined stakeholders’ expectations in order to develop better clinical education in the Thai context.

To date, I am just very happy and delighted when someone is influenced his or her own experiences by me.

Find out more about studying postgraduate Clinical Education at Flinders