Question: why did you become a children doctor?

Sarah Clarke answered on 13 Mar 2020:

Hi thanks for taking the time to ask the question! When I was at school, I didn’t ever intend to be a doctor. In fact I wanted to be a vet! But I became allergic to all animals and so I didn’t think that was such a good choice anymore. I decided that I wanted to research the immune system and what happens when it goes wrong (like when we get allergies) so that other people wouldn’t have to change their dreams. So I went to university and studied immunology (how the immune system worked). While I was there I became really interested in exactly how the body worked and so I decided to go to medical school so that I could combine science research with seeing patients. While I was at medical school I found that I enjoyed paediatrics best – I really like the variety that comes with the job, plus kids are really good fun! So I am now very lucky to do a job where I get to see patients that I find really interesting and then I get you use my research to try and discover things that might help them.
The short answer is that over the years my interests grew and changed and I sort of ended up as a children’s doctor after trying a few different things. Its important to remember that your goals might change and somehthing you enjoy now might not be the thing you do forever.