13 August 2024

The King's College London Surgical Innovation Society is a new society that brings innovation to students. They aim to increase accessibility to this exciting and ever-growing field. In this interview, Raghav Khanna reflected on the society’s greatest achievements and his experience leading the society as its president. 

What is the role of the surgical society?

Our society covers a range of topics, including: AI and robotics in surgery; innovation in surgical education; entrepreneurship in the medical devices space; and innovation in urology, orthopaedics, and neurosurgery. We are joined by distinguished senior professors and startup CEOs who present their work and inspire a new generation of medical students to explore cutting edge technology. 

We also collaborate with societies at King’s College London and beyond to provide as many opportunities to our members as we can. I have thoroughly enjoyed connecting with these accomplished professionals and learning from their insights, as well as creating an ecosystem of like-minded students who want to learn from these experts.

The highlight of my tenure was hosting our first conference on surgical innovation. We brought together delegates from eight UK universities and created an amazing platform for exploring advanced topics in surgical technology. The conference featured insightful talks on robotic surgery, AI in surgery and clinical innovation as well as unique workshops including suturing on hyper-realistic 3D printed tissue models, simulating clinical scenarios with VR headsets and constructing a robotic arm. 

In our first year as a society, we won society of the year at the Guy's, King's & St Thomas' (GKT) Medical Students Association awards. As a new society, this achievement was a testament to the collective efforts of our outstanding committee of nine student officers, whom I had the privilege of leading as president.  

How has the partnership supported this work?

Our members have learned from surgical experts at the King’s Health Partners monthly Academic Surgical Grand Rounds. We had the unique opportunity to attend the pulmonary embolism masterclass, held at the newly opened London Institute for Healthcare Excellence (LIHE). We were also invited to visit the surgical and interventional engineering labs at St Thomas’ campus, gaining valuable insights into cutting-edge techniques and technologies in the field.

I’ve always emphasised to our members the many opportunities studying at GKT opens for medical students. We have one of the leading centres for robotic surgery in Europe at Guy’s Hospital and a very welcoming urology department that I’ve spent a good amount of my second year with. Our School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science at King’s College London carries out cutting edge research into robotics and AI in healthcare and has wonderful professors who are glad to have students on board. 

The LIHE has already attracted many industry and academia experts and hosts outstanding events for learning and networking. These are opportunities that students should seize to enhance their knowledge, build connections, and become future ready. I’m personally looking forward to visiting LIHE on a regular basis next year as I start by MSc in Healthcare Technologies at the School of Biomedical Engineering. 

What did you learn in your time as president of the society?

Leadership is not a one person show – in my time as president of the Surgical Innovation Society what I enjoyed most was the collaborative nature of our work. I am grateful to our patron, Professor Prokar Dasgupta OBE, our speakers, sponsors, and most of all my wonderful committee. Once again, I encourage students at King’s College London and across the UK to join the society’s and KHP’s events held online and in person, particularly the Academic Surgical Grand Rounds. These fantastic hour-long monthly sessions cover unique topics and are a must attend for budding surgeons. I wish the incoming president and the new committee best of luck and look forward to seeing what they have in store for next year!

You can reach out to the society on the Surgical Innovation Society Instagram page.