Dr. Tiffany Wong is a liver surgeon at Queen Mary Hospital (the only liver transplantation centre in HK), where she performs surgery for liver cancer patients, as well as liver transplantation.
“I have always wanted to become a doctor. I didn’t want to limit my career choices, so I tried different medical fields during specialist training. I made my choice quite late,” Dr. Wong said.
One field she explored was biostatistics. “Studying biostatistics prepares me for managing and analyzing a large database, which turns out to be useful for research and guiding junior doctors,” she said.
WHAT IT IS (REALLY) LIKE TO BE A LIVER SURGEON
We’ve all seen the surgical scenes in TV medical dramas, where the lead surgeon does all the work while the other staff admire him/her from the other side of the Operating Room. Dr. Wong laughed and told us that surgeries in real life are definitely not that heroic, especially transplantation surgeries.
“Before each surgery, we hold countless meetings to discuss the cases. We have to prepare several approaches and decide on the best one; we have to be ready for possible complications; we have to practise on animals beforehand. I’ve been a surgeon for 8 years now, and I have learnt not to underestimate any situations. These are the parts that the media doesn’t portray.”
Moreover, a transplantation surgery is a high-risk surgical procedure with a high chance of complications, as the liver is one of the most important organs in the human body -- liver failure will cause other organs to fail as well. “I’ve had several patients who passed away on the table or after surgery. They are traumatic experiences for the whole surgical team… but the most important thing is to review and know how to improve,” she said.
DAY IN LIFE AND WORK-LIFE BALANCE
A typical day begins with a round at the ward -- mostly postoperative patients, with some cancer patients here for regular checkups. Then, a surgery. How many hours she works that day depends on the duration and difficulty of the surgery, or the availability of deceased livers for certain patients (shoutout: register for organ donation). After a surgery demanding top focus for hours, you may think that the work is done. No, there is another round waiting for the already exhausted surgeons.
On some days, Dr. Wong even teaches at HKU, inspiring young aspiring medics. “My schedule is very full, but I do enjoy teaching and researching. I don’t plan on giving up these two other jobs in the near future,” she said.
Although most of Dr. Wong’s time is split among these jobs, she did mention the importance of work-life balance. “Maintaining your social circle and hobby is crucial. If you keep on grinding, you’ll gradually lose motivation in life.”
FUTURE OF ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION
There are never enough livers to satisfy the high demand. “There are some patients where there are no living donors available for them because the whole family contains the gene of hepatitis. They have no choice but to wait.”
Despite the small number of organ donors in Hong Kong, Dr. Wong remains hopeful that scientific breakthroughs may aid future transplantation. “I know that there are scientists working on ‘growing’ organs by stem cells or organoids. I don’t think it’s going to happen in the coming few years, but I hope that I can witness its success before I retire,” she laughed.
WORDS TO FUTURE DOCTORS
Dr. Wong stresses on the importance of experience and exposure. To aspiring medical students, Dr. Wong encourages us to ask more questions, to crave for knowledge. To current medical students, her greatest advice is to be open-minded and not narrow down your career path too early.
Most importantly, she reminds us to stay curious. “If you don’t have the curiosity and see your job as a duty, I am sure that you would want to quit at some point,” Dr. Wong concludes.
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