GUEST COMMENT: I was a doctor, I want to be a banker

After the crisis in financial services, you might think anyone working in medicine would like to remain where they are. However, as a former doctor I want to become a banker. I appreciate that financial services jobs are less secure than jobs in medicine, but I’m intrigued by the financial services industry and willing to take a risk.

I’m currently in the first year of an MBA at a leading European business school. Before I started the course, I worked as a doctor in Sweden and then as a surgeon in a London hospital for a year.

Medicine wasn’t my only focus during this time. I’ve always been interested in business, and pursued business opportunities alongside my medical career. For example, I started a small company focused on skin rejuvenation therapy and worked on some projects for a venture capital firm looking into medical tourism.

When my MBA course finishes I’d like to go into healthcare M&A. Investment banking appeals to my interest in business. Doctors and bankers need similar character traits: curiosity; an ability to work with other people; and eagerness to do the best job possible, whether for clients or patients.

I’ve spoken to several former medics who’ve gone into banking and they’re happy with the move. All are working with healthcare clients; they get to combine a passion for healthcare with their passion for business.

I feel fortunate that in this environment the healthcare sector is one of the best areas of banking to be in. It wasn’t easy to land an internship this year, but I was fortunate enough to get my first choice offer.

If someone said to me that I contributed more to society as a doctor, I’d say that doctors are very dependent on pharmaceutical and biotech companies’ ability to develop new drugs. If can help those companies to improve their performance by giving them good financial advice, then I feel this is a valuable contribution too.